Sports
FG plans grassroots sports development summit
Preparations are in top gear for the planned National Grassroots Sports Development Summit 2026
This is as the Main Organising Committee (MOC) chaired by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Grassroots Sports Development, Hon. Adeyinka Anthony Adeboye has met to finalise its strategies for a hitch free summit
The meeting which held last week focused on preparations, coordination and strategies towards delivering a successful national summit scheduled for November 18 and 19, 2026, at the Banquet Hall, Presidential Villa, Abuja.
The Summit, with the theme “Creating a New Pathway for Sustainable Grassroots Sports Development,” is being put together by the Office of the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Grassroots Sports Development as a major platform for stakeholders to examine the future of grassroots sports in Nigeria.
Chairing the MOC meeting, Adeboye stressed that the Summit must go beyond speeches and ceremonial engagements to produce practical ideas, partnerships and recommendations capable of strengthening Nigeria’s sports development system. HireGrant Writers
“We are building a Summit that must produce action, not just conversation. Nigeria has enormous talent at the grassroots, but talent alone is not enough. We need a system that discovers these young people early, develops them properly and creates a sustainable pathway that can take them from their communities and schools to national and international excellence.”
The MOC deliberated on critical areas of preparation, including stakeholder mobilisation, programme development, technical sessions, logistics, media and communications, private-sector participation and the overall coordination required to deliver the two-day national gathering.
Adeboye said the timing of the Summit is particularly significant amid the broader national conversation about reforming Nigerian sports and building structures capable of delivering sustainable results.
The Summit is expected to bring together stakeholders from government, sports administration, federations, state and local structures, schools, clubs and academies, alongside coaches, former athletes, corporate organisations, development partners and other participants in the Nigerian sports ecosystem.
A major component of the programme will be discussions around “Grassroots Sports Development in Nigeria: Challenges and Way Forward,” examining the structural obstacles that have limited grassroots development and the practical interventions required to address them.
According to him, meaningful sports reform must pay serious attention to what happens at the foundation, particularly in schools, communities, local government areas, academies and other environments where young talents are first discovered.
“If Nigeria wants sustainable success at the highest level, we must get the foundation right. We cannot continue to depend on discovering exceptional athletes by chance. There must be a deliberate pathway from talent identification to development, competition and elite performance.”
Another key conversation, “The Game Changer: How Sports Rescues Youth and Builds Nations,” will explore the wider potential of sports as an instrument for youth empowerment, education, employment opportunities, social inclusion, community development and national unity. Sports
Adeboye told members of the MOC that the Summit should provide corporate Nigeria and other development partners with an opportunity to become active participants in building the country’s sporting future.
He noted that government alone cannot provide every facility, competition, training programme and development opportunity required by millions of young Nigerians, making strategic partnerships essential to the sustainability of grassroots sports.
“This must be a national effort. Government has a responsibility, but the private sector, schools, communities, federations, clubs, coaches, parents and development partners all have roles to play. The future of Nigerian sports belongs to all of us.”
The Presidential aide said the ultimate ambition is to create a framework through which promising young athletes can be identified regardless of where they come from and given opportunities to progress based on talent, discipline and performance.
He charged members of the Main Organising Committee to approach their responsibilities with urgency and professionalism, stressing that the November gathering should leave behind outcomes capable of contributing meaningfully to the future direction of grassroots sports development in Nigeria. Politics
“November 18 and 19 must represent more than two dates on the sporting calendar. We want to look back at this Summit and say that this was where stakeholders came together, confronted the challenges honestly and began building a new pathway for Nigerian sports.”
With preparations now intensifying, Adeboye expressed confidence that the National Grassroots Sports Development Summit 2026 would provide an important platform for translating Nigeria’s vast grassroots sporting potential into a more organised and sustainable national talent-development system.
Argentine President Javier Milei attacked the UN in a speech to the world body on Wednesday, calling it a “useless organisation” filled with “arrogant parasites.”
The firebrand Milei, one of US President Donald Trump’s closest Latin American allies, has repeatedly used the UN platform to criticize global governance and its “woke” agenda.
He accused the United Nations on Wednesday of having failed in its duty to guarantee collective security and human rights, saying it had instead allowed “chaos, violence and international terrorism” to flourish.
The UN, he said, “has become a useless organization, serving only to feed a caste of fatally arrogant parasites disguised as well-intentioned bureaucrats.”
He accused the organization of “looking the other way” on Argentina’s claim to the Falkland Islands, a British overseas territory which Argentines refer to as Las Malvinas and claim as part of their land.
Argentina has accused Britain of flouting a UN resolution ordering both parties to desist from unilateral action in the islands, over which the two countries fought a war in 1982.
“Those who follow the rules receive no reward for doing so, while those who break them face no repercussions whatsoever,” Milei said.
Underscoring Milei’s close ties with Trump, Argentina and the United States on Wednesday announced a joint initiative to improve the Latin American nation’s infrastructure and connect it with “vital economic sectors to major Atlantic ports and Western markets.”
The so-called Andes-Atlantic Corridor aims to facilitate investment in transport, digital infrastructure, minerals and energy including Vaca Muerta, a massive hydrocarbon deposit in southern Argentina, a joint statement said.
Organisers of the much talked about heavy weight boxing fight between Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury have finally settled for Cardiff’s Principality Stadium on December 11.
BBC Sport reported on Thursday that the fight will bring together two of Britain’s biggest heavyweight names after both men came through their respective warm-up bouts in July.
Fury, 37, stopped 46-year-old Mariusz Wach in the seventh round in Pattaya, Thailand, in a bout staged before around 1,500 spectators and not broadcast on television.
Joshua, 36, endured a dramatic contest in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, recovering from two first-round knockdowns before stopping Albanian heavyweight Kristian Prenga in the second round.
The first knockdown came just 20 seconds into the fight, but Joshua recovered to secure victory.
The bout was Joshua’s first since surviving a car crash in Nigeria that claimed the lives of his close friends Sina Ghami and Latif “Latz” Ayodele.
After his victory, Joshua and his promoter Eddie Hearn had expressed a preference for the fight to take place at Wembley Stadium.
However, Joshua’s agreement with the Saudi organisers financing the event required the contest to be held in Britain, with a move to the United States requiring a renegotiation of the deal.
Hearn has described the Fury fight as hugely significant to Joshua’s career.
Speaking after Pat Brown’s victory over John Hedges on September 19, Hearn said Joshua’s “whole career comes down to this” fight.
“There is a desperation to win this fight and this is why sport is the greatest. I’ve never wanted to win a fight so badly,” Hearn said.
The December clash will finally see the two British heavyweights share the ring after years of negotiations and speculation surrounding a potential meeting.
Nigeria’s 34 years old Abiola Kasimu Abdusalam has been listed by World football governing body, FIFA as Nigeria’s first referee to officiate at the U17 world cup, billed for Qatar
Abdusalam’s appointment will end a 25-year wait for a Nigerian centre referee at the FIFA U-17
The 34-year-old is the only Nigerian centre referee on FIFA’s list and one of four referees selected from Africa for the competition.
The appointment was contained in a post on FIFA’s website on Thursday, where the football governing body named 81 officials for the tournament, comprising 27 referees and 54 assistant referees from 36 member associations.
Abdulsalam’s selection marks the first time in 25 years that a Nigerian centr
The official had participated in two CAF U-17 Africa Cup of Nations tournaments as well as several WAFU competitions.
His recent performances have also earned him another major assignment, as he is scheduled to referee the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying fixture between Cameroon and Comoros.
Abdulsalam became a FIFA-listed referee in 2022 and has retained his international badge through the annual assessment process.
He was also the only Nigerian referee selected for the 2025 African Nations Championship.
FIFA Referees Committee chairman Pierluigi Collina said the officials selected for the U-17 World Cup were among the organisation’s most promising match officials, adding that the appointments were based not only on the officials’ performances but also on their ability to operate effectively within international teams and cope with the demands of a major tournament.
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