Bayelsa State and Spainish football giant, Barcelona, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to establish a football academy in the state.

The Commissioner for Sports, Dr Daniel Igali, signed on behalf of the state government, while Mr Bernat Villa Garris signed on behalf of Barcelona during the grand finale of the Bayelsa Governor’s Football Tournament tagged Prosperity Cup 2026 at the Samson Siasia Sports Complex in Yenagoa on Friday.

Former President of the Nigeria Football Federation, Mr Amaju Pinnick, and the federation’s Secretary General, Dr Mohammed Sanusi, witnessed the ceremony.

Germany defender, Borussia Dortmund’s Niklas Sule has chosen to retire this summer at the age of 30.

Borussia injured his knee in last month’s Bundesliga defeat at Hoffenheim and initially thought he had suffered a cruciate ligament tear for the third time.

Although he then discovered he had avoided a cruciate ligament tear, Sule says he already felt that his career “was over” as he did not want to risk another serious injury.

The ex-Bayern Munich and Hoffenheim player was set to be out of contract on 30 June and will retire after the final game of the season.

After initial tests on his knee, Sule said on the Spielmacher podcast,, external that he “went into the shower and cried for 10 minutes”.

The Nigeria Football Federation has announced the appointments of Abdu Maikaba and Eboboritse Uwejamomere as head coaches of the men’s national U-20 and the U-17 boys national team respectively.

Maikaba and Uwejamomere’s appointments followed the reshuffling of the backroom of all age grade national football teams.

Maikaba, who has managed several of Nigeria’s prestigious clubs, has also previously coached the U17 Boys’ National Team, known as Golden Eaglets. He was assistant coach of the U20 Boys, Flying Eagles, during the period Paul Aigbogun served as head coach.

He has served time with top-of-the-range teams Enyimba FC, Wikki Tourists, Kano Pillars and Plateau United, and famously led Akwa United FC to win the oldest and most prestigious football competition in the land (now known as President Federation Cup) in 2017.

Uwejamomere, the new head coach of five-time world champions Golden Eaglets, has served as coach-analyst with the senior men national team, Super Eagles, for many years now.

He is presently head of academy at Sporting Lagos FC, which recently gained promotion back to the NPFL, and worked as analyst with the senior women national team, Super Falcons, as well as academy youth development coach at Millwall FC, Gillingham FC and Nottingham Forest FC in England.

The Executive Committee of the Nigeria Football Federation has endorsed the recommendation of the Federation’s Technical and Development Committee for the appointments of Abdu Maikaba and Eboboritse Uwejamomere as head coaches of the U20 and U17 Boys National Teams,” the NFF announced on Thursday.