Top Trending News in Nigeria Today – April 5, 2025

⚽ Al Hilal vs Al Nassr – The Saudi Showdown..

The Saudi Pro League match between Al Hilal and Al Nassr is one of today’s most searched topics in Nigeria. The attention largely comes from the participation of global football icon Cristiano Ronaldo, whose every touch on the pitch continues to spark excitement worldwide. Nigerian fans followed the action closely, with hashtags like #HilalNassr and #RonaldoTrending dominating social media. This rivalry isn’t just about bragging rights but a battle that impacts the league title race significantly.
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⚽ Kevin De Bruyne – Midfield Masterclass Keeps Fans Buzzing

​Manchester City midfielder Kevin De Bruyne has announced he will leave the club at the end of the 2024-2025 season, concluding a decade-long tenure marked by significant achievements. ​Teammate Jack Grealish expressed his sentiments on social media, stating, “It’s been an absolute pleasure to share the pitch with you, Kev. Your vision and skill are unparalleled, and you’ve been an inspiration to us all.” ​Manager Pep Guardiola also praised De Bruyne, calling him “one of the greatest” players in Premier League history and acknowledging his consistent performance over the years. ​
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⚽ Rayo Vallecano vs Espanyol – The Surprise Match Grabbing Eyeballs

​Following their impressive 4-0 victory over Rayo Vallecano on April 4, 2025, RCD Espanyol‘s locker room was filled with jubilation and camaraderie. The players’ celebration highlighted their unity and team spirit.​ A standout moment featured Omar El Hilali playfully interrupting teammate Javi Puado during a post-match interview. El Hilali, with a microphone in hand, humorously posed as a journalist, asking Puado questions and eliciting laughter from those present. This light-hearted exchange quickly gained traction on social media, symbolizing the positive atmosphere within the team.
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🧾 NYSC Arrears and Minimum Wage Exemption – Youths Demand Clarity

​The Director General of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Brigadier General Yushau Ahmed, has announced that corps members who recently completed their service will receive an arrears payment of N77,000. This payment is intended to cover the difference resulting from the recent increase in the monthly allowance for corps members. The Federal Government had earlier approved an increment of the corps members’ monthly allowance from N33,000 to N77,000. However, there had been delays in the disbursement of the new allowance due to pending release of funds. ​
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🛢️ Adesua Dozie Appointed to NNPC – Policy & Power

The recent appointment of the new board for the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) has sparked concerns regarding gender imbalance. The Women in Energy Network (WIEN) has expressed disappointment over the minimal representation of women on the board, highlighting a broader issue of gender inclusivity in leadership roles within the energy sector. ​President Bola Tinubu’s overhaul of the NNPCL board aims to rejuvenate the country’s oil sector, with notable appointments including former Shell executive Bashir Ojulari as the new Chief Executive Officer and Ahmadu Musa Kida as the board chairman. However, the composition has raised eyebrows due to the limited inclusion of female professionals.
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⚽ Everton vs Arsenal – Major changes to starting XI made..

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has announced five changes to the starting lineup for today’s Premier League match against Everton at Goodison Park. With a Champions League fixture against Real Madrid approaching, Arteta aims to manage player workload effectively. The Premier League match between Everton and Arsenal is scheduled for Saturday, April 5, 2025, with kickoff at 12:30 PM BST at Goodison Park in Liverpool.
👉 EPL Updates

⚽ LIVE: Al Hilal vs Al Nassr – Saudi Pro League Clash in Progress

Football fans across the world are currently glued to what may be one of the most electrifying matches in the Saudi Pro League this season as Al Hilal face off against Al Nassr in a highly anticipated encounter.

The match is currently underway at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, with global stars like Cristiano Ronaldo and Aleksandar Mitrović lighting up the pitch.


📺 Follow the Match LIVE

👉 Click here for minute-by-minute live updates – The Hindu Sportstar


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Super AFCON 2023; Semi-Finals Fixtures: Nigeria vs. South Africa & Ivory Coast vs. DR Congo

The following are schedule for the super Semi-Final, AFCON 2023 where old rivals are bound to meet on Wenesday 7th Febuary 2024 :

  1. Semi-final one – (17:00 GMT) Nigeria v South Africa
  2. Semi-final two – (20:00 GMT) Ivory Coast v DR Congo

Super Africa Cup of Nations 2023-Quarter Final Fixtures

2nd February, Friday
  • Quarter Final 1: Felix Houphouet-Boigny Stadium, Abidjan (17:00)- Nigeria vs Angola.
  • Quarter Final 2: Alassane Ouattara Stadium, Abidjan (20:00) – DR Congo vs Guinea.
3rd February, Saturday
  • Quarter Final 3: Bouake Stadium (17:00)- Mali vs Ivory Coast.
  • Quarter Final 4: Yamoussoukro Stadium (20:00)- Cape Verde vs South Africa.

Super Africa Cup of Nations 2023

The Africa biennial football cup, Africa Cup of Nations 2023 edition, is being hosted by the West African country of Ivory Coast. The event is sponsored by the Oil and Gas giant TotalEnergies. The competition will run from Saturday, January 13, 2024 to Sunday, February 11, 2024. The Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) has been facing series of revamp since 2010 edition. For instance, the Confederation of African (CAF) changed the football tournament to odd-numbered years to avoid clashing with the World Cup.

Read More: Super Africa Cup of Nations 2023

Why Africa Cup of Nations 2023 in 2024?

Although the 2023 Nations Cup was due to be held in June-July 2023, but the host nation Ivory Coast requested for change in schedule to January- February 2024 while retaining the original title name. This decision was to avoid the rainy season of the typical West and Central African tropics.

The African Cup of Nation 2023 the Journey so Far

The African Cup of Nation 2023 has been full of intrigues and surprises. Generally, the quality of play has been fantastic as evident by the number of goals scored at the group stage. The AFCON 2023 in Ivory Coast has produced the total of 89 goals from 36 matches in the group stage making average of 2.472 goals per game. Interestingly, Equatorial Guinea has scored 9 goals which is the most goals of the group stage. However, comparing this feast to the last AFCON edition 2021 in Cameroon, the group state produced the total number of 68 goals at an average of 1.89 goals per match. The host nation Cameroon scored 7 goals being the highest number of goals.

The Major Highlights of the AFCON 2023 Group Stage

1. Upset as Big Teams lose out of Group Stages

One of the talking points of AFCON 2023 toutnment are the big teams who will usually qualify to the second round losing out in group stage. Among these Teams are Ghana, Algeria and Tunisia. The Ghana football Team who has seen their worst of the AFCON performance in this tournament have refused to revamp their nationl Team for optimum performance. The influence of Ayew brothers has not been favorable for the good course of the Ghana Team. Asamoah Gyan the most Cap Ghanian footballer has scored 59 goals in 109 games. However, André Ayew with 119 Caps and Jordan Ayew also with 100 Caps only have a total of 46 goals for these 219 games that is 24 and 22 goals respectively.

2. Six Coaches Fired by the End of the Group Stage

Sadly, some coaches have lost their jobs; their respective FA sent them packing. Incredible number of head coach’s “casualty” just by the end of the group stage of AFCON 2023 Tournament is alarming. The list of the Head Coaches are:

  • Chris Hughton Head Coach of Ghana Football Team fired for poor performance.
  • Famous Djamel Belmadi Head Coach of Algeria Football Team fired for losing out of group stage.
  • Jalel Kadri Head Coach of Tunisia Football Team fired for woeful Team performance.
  • Tom Saintfiet Coach of Gambia Football Team resigns after AFCON 2023.
  • Adel Amrouche coach of Tanzania Team sacked after getting an 8-match ban for bad comment about Morocco at AFCON 2023.
  • Jean-Louis Gasset head coach of Ivory Coast sacked for poor performance.

3. Host Nation Lost Woefully to a Lesser Ranked Team

In the history of Ivory Coast Football Team, the heaviest home defeat was their 4-0 defeat against Equatorial Guinea.  Also, this defeat makes it second consecutive home defeat after the 1-0 defeat against the Super Eagles of Nigeria. These have granted Ivory Coast another award-breaking spree of the first AFCON host nation to lose two group games since they did so in 1984.

4. Good Performance from Team Cape Verde

Regarded as minor, nobody gave Cape Verde a chance. Their last four stats LWDL were very unimpressive. However, in the AFCON 2023 group stage, Cape Verde won Ghana, Mozambique and had a draw with Egypt to top the Group, their best record in the tournament so far. They are known as underdogs, but only few people took into consideration that Cape Verde ranked only 27th in the world and 3rd in Africa.

AFCON 2023 Round of 16 Fixtures

  • Angola 3-0 Namibia (Stade de Bouaké) 27/01/2024, 17:00
  • Nigeria 2-0 Cameroon (Felix Houphouet-Boigny) 27/01/2024, 20:00
  • Equatorial Guinea 0-1 Guinea (Stade Olympique Alassane Ouattara) 28/01/2024, 17:00
  • Egypt 1-1 DR Congo (Stade Laurent Pokou) 28/01/2024, 20:00
  • Cape Verde – Mauritania (Felix Houphouet-Boigny) 29/01/2024, 17:00
  • Senegal – Ivory Coast (Stade Charles Konan Banny de Yamoussoukro) 29/01/2024,  20:00
  • Mali – Burkina Faso (Amadou Gon Coulibaly Stadium) 30/01/2024, 17:00
  • Morocco – South Africa (Stade Laurent Pokou) 30/01/2024, 20:00

Qatar World Cup 2022- Finals Fixtures-Nigeria Local Time GMT+1 (6)

The 2022 Qatar World Cup is finally rounding up with the 63rd and 64th Games coming up on the 17th and 18th of December respectively. The tournament which has gulped around $220bn a cost which can organise over 5 Olympic games all together and far over the Net worth of Elon Musk the World Richest. The 2022 World Cup has been one of the best Games with lots of drama and wonderful performances from all the Teams. Davido and Ghanian music star, Stoneboy, are among the celebrities which will perform to round up the ongoing 2022 FIFA World Cup. The final fixtures are as follows:

Third-place play-off

Saturday 17 December

Game 63: Croatia v Morocco Khalifa International Stadium, Al Rayyan (4pm)

Final

Sunday 18 December

Game 64: Argentina v France, Lusail Iconic Stadium, Lusail (4pm)

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Qatar World Cup 2022- Quarter-Finals Fixtures-Nigeria Local Time GMT+1 (4)

Picture-The Mirror

The Round of 16 of the 2022 Qatar World Cup has been concluded with exciting matches including the surprising defeat of the Spanish Team by the Moroccan Team. We expect more drama at the quater finals. This Round will commence on Friday with Croatia hosting Brazil. The rest of the fixtures are detailed below:

Friday 9 December

Game 58: Croatia v Brazil, Education City Stadium, Al Rayyan (4pm)

Game 57: Netherlands v Argentina, Lusail Iconic Stadium, Lusail (8pm)

Saturday 10 December

Game 60: Morocco v Portugal, Al Thumama Stadium, Doha (4pm)

Game 59: England v France, Al Bayt Stadium, Al Khor (8pm)

Cable TV subscription available here to enjoy all the knock out matches live on TV.

Qatar World Cup 2022- Round of 16 Fixtures-Nigeria Local Time GMT+1 (3)

Qatar World Cup definitely has not been disappointing. The intrigue and drama are out of this world. The Belgium and German Teams have been knocked out in what no Football Pundit see coming.

Group Stages have been concluded and the round of 16 have started. The following are the fixtures and venue of the football marches:

Saturday 3 December

Game 49: Netherlands v USA, Khalifa International Stadium, Al Rayyan (4pm)

Game 50: Argentina v Australia, Ahmed bin Ali Stadium, Al Rayyan (8pm)

Sunday 4 December

Game 51: France v Poland, Al Thumama Stadium, Doha (4pm)

Game 52: England v Senegal, Al Bayt Stadium, Al Khor (8pm)

Monday 5 December

Game 53: Japan v Croatia, Al Janoub Stadium, Al Wakrah (4pm)

Game 54: Brazil v South Korea, Stadium 974, Doha (8pm)

Tuesday 6 December

Game 55: Morocco v Spain, Education City Stadium, Al Rayyan (4pm)

Game 56: Portugal v Switzerland, Lusail Iconic Stadium, Lusail (8pm)

Don’t miss any of the World Cup actions. Renew your Cable TV here in 2mins and watch all the actions live on TV.

Qatar World Cup 2022 Fixtures-Nigeria Local Time GMT+1 (2)

Qatar World Cup 2022 commenced on the 20th of November 2022 and have already witnessed lots of drama and shocking results. “Where is Messi” was the popular echo when Saudi Arabia humiliated the Argentina Team in a 2-1 defeat. Qatar the host nation has been kicked out of the tournament in a first-ever host nation to be eliminated after only two games. Iranians are excited to see their team swallowed Wales in a 2-0 win.

Don’t miss out of the drama, renew your Dstv or Gotv subscription in just 1min at www.servpay.ng to watch all the 64 Live Matches. You can also view all the matches on live streaming at Showmax.com. Subscriptions on Showmax can also be renew on Servpay.ng with ease.

The following are the fixtures of the 2022 World cup with kick-off Time (Nigeria Time Zone):

Saturday 26 November

Group D: Tunisia v Australia (11am)

Group C: Poland v Saudi Arabia (2pm)

Group D: France v Denmark (5pm)

Group C: Argentina v Mexico (8pm)

Sunday 27 November

Group E: Japan v Costa Rica (11am)

Group F: Belgium v Morocco (2pm)

Group F: Croatia v Canada (5pm)

Group E: Spain v Germany (8pm)

Monday 28 November

Group G: Cameroon v Serbia (11am)

Group H: South Korea v Ghana (2pm)

Group G: Brazil v Switzerland (5pm)

Group H: Portugal v Uruguay (8pm)

Tuesday 29 November

Group A: Netherlands v Qatar (4pm), Ecuador v Senegal (4pm)

Group B: Wales v England (8pm), Iran v USA (8pm)

Wednesday 30 November

Group C: Poland v Argentina (8pm), Saudi Arabia v Mexico (8pm)

Group D: Tunisia v France (4pm), Australia v Denmark (4pm)

Thursday 1 December

Group F: Croatia v Belgium (4pm), Canada v Morocco (4pm)

Group E: Japan v Spain (8pm), Costa Rica v Germany (8pm)

Friday 2 December

Group H: South Korea v Portugal (4pm), Ghana v Uruguay (4pm)

Group G: Cameroon v Brazil (8pm), Serbia v Switzerland (8pm)