The 2024 Ballon d’Or ceremony in Paris highlighted a memorable night for Spain, with Rodri and Aitana Bonmatí crowned as the best male and female footballers in the world.

Rodri’s stellar performances for both club and country secured him the men’s Ballon d’Or, while Bonmatí retained the Ballon d’Or Féminin after leading Barcelona to an unprecedented quadruple and guiding Spain to further international success.

Barcelona’s 16-year-old sensation, Lamine Yamal, claimed the Kopa Trophy, awarded to the world’s top Under-21 player.

His remarkable season, punctuated by breakthrough performances for both club and Spain, positioned him as the standout choice for the award.

Carlo Ancelotti, who chose not to attend the ceremony with his Real Madrid squad, was honored as Men’s Coach of the Year.

Ancelotti’s exceptional leadership led Real Madrid to a UEFA Champions League and La Liga double, reinforcing his status as one of the top coaches globally.

Adding to Barcelona’s triumphs, they were named Women’s Club of the Year after a dominant 2023/24 season in which they secured the Liga F, UEFA Women’s Champions League, Copa de la Reina, and Spanish Supercopa.

Here is the full list of winners:

Ballon d’Or: Rodri
Ballon d’Or Feminin: Aitana Bonmati
Kopa Trophy: Lamine Yamal
Men’s Coach of the Year: Carlo Ancelotti
Women’s Coach of the Year: Emma Hayes
Yashin Trophy: Emiliano Martinez
Men’s Club of the Year: Real Madrid
Women’s Club of the Year: Barcelona
Gerd Muller Trophy: Harry Kane and Kylian Mbappe

The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has reacted to the situation in Libya, where the Super Eagles have been stranded at a local airport for many long hours before tomorrow’s 2025 AFCON qualifier against the home team.

CAF head of communications, Lux September, said: “CAF is aware of this matter and is in touch with both teams.”

The NFF filed a formal complaint to the continental ruling body yesterday. The Nigerian Sports Minister John Enoh said what was paramount was the safety of the team in Libya and not CAF’s insistence that the match still go ahead

“While the CAF President’s concern seems to be what to do to get the national team to participate in tomorrow’s match, I have instead informed CAF that the concern of the Government and people of Nigeria is first, the safety of the team and their safe return, urging that CAF should focus on working with us to achieve this.

“There must be a serious adverse conseqùence to the Libyan football federation for this unspeakable behavior.

“This cannot be through insisting that Nigeria still takes part in this match given the very obvious situation”.

In the latest turn of events, Following the developments, the Super Eagles have resolved not to play the match any longer but to return home.

William Troost-Ekong, Super Eagles captain, who has been providing updates on the Libya ordeal via X, just tweeted that they were about to leave Libya.

“Apparently our plane is being fueled as we speak and we should be leaving to Nigeria shortly. Thanks for everyone’s support!” he posted, adding, “I REITERATE: We would NEVER treat a guest nation for a game in this way. Mistakes happen, delays happen. But never on purpose!”

The Nigeran Football Federation appointed German tactician, Bruno Labbadia, as the new Super Eagles coach. Labbadia’s appointment was made public in an early morning tweet on Tuesday via the NFF’s X handle, tweeting as #thenff.

The statement read, “The Nigeria Football Federation has announced that it has agreed with German tactician, Bruno Labbadia, to become the Head Coach of Nigeria’s senior men’s national team, Super Eagles.”

“The NFF Executive Committee has approved the recommendation of its Technical and Development sub-committee to appoint Mr Bruno Labbadia as the Head Coach of the Super Eagles,” according to the federation’s General Secretary, Dr Mohammed Sanusi.

Bruno Labbadia has extensive experience managing top clubs in Germany, including Darmstadt 98 (2003-2006), Greuther Fürth (2007-2008), Bayer Leverkusen (2008-2009), Hamburger SV (2009-2010, 2015-2016), VfB Stuttgart (2010-2013, 2022-2023), VfL Wolfsburg (2018-2019), and Hertha BSC (2020-2021)

The former Werder Bremen star has earned a reputation as a “relegation specialist” throughout his managerial career. He has frequently been brought in to save clubs from relegation, demonstrating his ability to stabilize teams in difficult situations

Labbadia becomes the 37th Head Coach of the Super Eagles after the resignation of former coach, Finidi George. This development ends long speculation on who becomes the Super Eagles coach.