Sports
Barca Faces Threat Of Stadium Closure
Barcelona faces the threat of being forced to play a game behind closed doors as their transfer dispute with Atletico Madrid and a deal involving Antoine Griezmann rumbles on.
A year on from seeing the France international pass up the chance to move to Camp Nou, he finally arrived during the summer transfer window of 2019.
Barca agreed to pay the release clause in his contract, with €120 million (£107m/$134m) changing hands between two Liga rivals.
The trigger in Griezmann’s deal at Atletico reached that point on July 1, having previously stood at €200m (£178m/$221m).
Given that Barca had held long-standing interest in the World Cup winner, domestic rivals are not convinced that they waited until mid-summer to get a deal done.
Atletico claim that an agreement was reached with Griezmann when his larger exit clause was in place and are demanding that they receive the €80m (£71m/$88m) difference.
Those demands have fallen on deaf ears in Barcelona, with the Catalan giants adamant that they have done nothing wrong.
It is, however, possible that sanctions will be imposed on them for breaching Spanish football’s disciplinary code.
Juantxo Landaberea, the judge appointed by the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF), to rule on the case is in the process of completing his findings.
Any action that he proposes will not be binding, with the RFEF committee set to have the final say, but they will be taken into account.
With that in mind, it is possible that Barcelona will be forced to close the doors on Camp Nou for one fixture.
That is considered to be unlikely, with a fine expected to be handed out.
Goal is able to confirm that those are the two options being mulled over and that Barca could get away with things very lightly.
If no ban on supporters is implemented, then the Blaugrana will be asked to pay just €300 to settle the case.
Given the regulations that are said to have been breached, the RFEF charter only allows for small financial penalties to be put in place.
If that course of action is taken, then it will come as little consolation to Atletico.
They stand to lose out on the €80m that they believe they are owed, while Griezmann their most potent attacking weapon across a five-year spell in the Spanish capital is now on the books of a domestic rival.
The Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) has dropped to 91st place in the International Federation of Football History and Statistics (IFFHS) global league rankings, marking a fall of 15 positions from its 76th-place ranking in 2024.
The latest figures, released for 2025, show the NPFL earned 171.75 points, placing it outside the top 90 leagues globally and signalling a decline in the league’s comparative strength against other domestic competitions worldwide.
The IFFHS ranking methodology combines results from both continental and international club competitions, giving weighted consideration to club performances beyond regional contests. Analysts say the NPFL’s drop reflects inconsistent results by Nigerian clubs in continental tournaments and the growing competitiveness of leagues in other regions of Africa.
In Africa, Egypt’s Premier League maintained its position as the continent’s strongest league for a sixth consecutive year.
Morocco’s Botola followed, retaining a position on the African podium since 2018, while South Africa’s Premiership returned to the top three for the first time in 21 years. Algeria and Tunisia completed the continent’s top five.
Under the Confederation of African Football (CAF) five-year ranking, Nigeria sits 12th with 21 points, still allowing the country to enter two teams in each CAF club competition.
Globally, European leagues continued to dominate the upper ranks, with 12 of the top 20 and 29 of the top 50 leagues hailing from the continent.
South America contributed five leagues to the top 20, while Asia had two, and CONCACAF and Oceania had one league each.
The English Premier League retained the top spot worldwide for the sixth time since the rankings began in 1991, followed by Spain’s La Liga and Brazil’s Serie A.
Italy’s Serie A dropped three positions but remained above Germany’s Bundesliga, while France’s Ligue 1 climbed into sixth place.
Portugal’s Primeira Liga held seventh, Argentina’s Liga Profesional slipped two places but stayed ahead of the Dutch Eredivisie, and Colombia’s Primera A completed the global top ten.
Observers have suggested that Nigeria’s drop to 91st highlights long-standing concerns about the NPFL’s competitiveness and international visibility.
Club performances in continental competitions, investment in infrastructure, and the quality of player development are cited as critical areas for improvement if the league is to regain its standing.
According to football analyst Tunde Adeyemi, “The NPFL has the potential to compete at higher levels, but the decline in rankings reflects both structural challenges and the need for strategic planning to boost club results and overall league quality.”
With African leagues such as Egypt, Morocco, and South Africa consolidating their positions both continentally and globally, the NPFL faces mounting pressure to enhance its domestic competition and ensure Nigerian clubs perform more consistently on the continental stage.
THE Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL) has imposed heavy sanctions on Kwara United FC following serious breaches of the league’s framework and rules during their re-arranged Match Day 22 fixture against Rivers United.
The Ilorin-based club was found guilty of failing to provide adequate and effective security, which allowed unauthorised persons to gain access to restricted areas.
In line with NPFL regulations, Kwara United has been fined N2 million for failing to provide adequate security and N1 million for failing to control their supporters.
An additional N2 million fine was imposed for assaults on match officials and Rivers United officials, alongside N1 million for unsporting behaviour. The club will also pay N1 million for holding match officials and Rivers United staff hostage for several hours after the game, and N2 million as compensatory costs for treatment and damages.
Beyond financial penalties totalling N10 million, Kwara United will suffer a deduction of three points and three goals from their accrued tally.
The club has also been ordered to play its remaining home fixtures at the MKO Abiola Sports Arena in Abeokuta, Ogun State.
Meanwhile, officials of Kwara United FC have condemned the attack on match officials in the encounter that ended 1-1. Violence erupted off the pitch moments after the final whistle, as unruly elements stormed restricted areas, and allegedly attacked top league officials, including the Chairman of Chairmen of the Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL), Chief Okey Kpalukwu, and officials of River United FC.
The incident now casts a dark cloud over the NPFL season, raising fresh concerns about crowd control, stadium security, and the growing tension surrounding high-stakes domestic fixtures.
Eyewitness accounts described the scenes as “serious” as security personnel struggled to contain the situation, with officials and members of the visiting delegation hurriedly escorted out.
What began as frustration over the match result quickly spiralled into a chaotic spectacle that overshadowed the league match itself.
The Ilorin-based side, which distanced itself from what it described as the actions of “irrational elements,” however, pledged to identify and bring the culprits to book.
“We deeply regret the distress caused to all parties involved and extend our sincere and unreserved apologies to Chief Okey Kpalukwu, the Rivers United delegation, match officials, security personnel, and innocent spectators affected by these deplorable events,” the Club said.
Chelle, on Thursday, tabled new demands from the Federal Government for him to remain with the Super Eagles. Top on his demand is a house, car, 24-hour constant electricity supply, flight tickets for his wife and children and free hand to run the team.
For former Chairman of Gombe State Football Association, Ahmed Shuaibu Gara-Gombe, everything is wrong in Chelle’s new demand.
“I don’t think it is okay,” Gara-Gombe told The Guardian. “This man just came to Nigeria to boost his CV. I said it before that Super Eagles is too big for Chelle.
“The Super Eagles raised Chelle to the global stage not him raising the team, and he now wants to ‘blackmail’ us.
“With the players Nigeria have, we are even the ones to ask a coach like Eric Chelle to pay us ‘privileged fees’.
“It is so obvious now that Chelle just created a phantom story around Olympique Marseilles that they were after his service, and a few days after, his ridiculous demands came. We are not fools. I read the demands, they are ridiculous. While at the AFCON in Morocco, Chelle started his phantom story that Algeria wanted his services and the Olympique Marseilles story followed. If he wants to go, let him go. I have not seen any impact he made on the Super Eagles.”
Gara-Gombe added: “Chelle is just lucky we are tip toeing and winning Games because of the players’ brilliance, not because of his impact.
We have polished him as a Coach. We have turned him into reckoning and now he wants to ‘blackmail us. If we retain this man for this amount, Nigeria will regret it,” he stated.
Former Super Eagles midfielder, Edema Fuludu, agrees with Gara-Gombe.
Speaking with Tidesports source, Fuludu said: “I want to believe that people are behind his demands the Nigeria way. It is disheartening to know that a coach who came to Nigeria with a low profile pedigree and fortunate to have a pool of such quality players to prosecute games, got a bronze medal, has been celebrated as if he won the AFCON.
Why won’t he make unreasonable demands?
“We have come to the threshold of anything goes for our football. Let us invest in coaching education and make our home grown coaches by training and retraining, with financial encouragement in remuneration that commensurate what foreigners get for better performance.
“I think we should allow Chelle to go irrespective of the outcome of the World Cup protest against DR Congo,” Fuludu stated.
However, former Green Eagles winger, Adegoke Adelabu, now a sports scientist, said the coach has the right to demand for any amount as wage or allowance.
“It is left to the NFF to decide whether he deserves such amount. Characteristically, we focus so much on going for competitions at all cost and not necessarily developing the national team professionally. You could see in his demands that he wants to be in complete control of the invitation and selection of the team without any interference.
“A forward looking organisation ought to have known whether we are retaining him or not depending on whether he met the objectives of the federation. The way he spelt out his demands showed that there is a problem with the running of the national team.
“We need to train our own coaches. We have enough retired footballers that we should be able to educate them scientifically to handle our national team players. My problem is not about his demands, but the NFF should tell us whether he is capable of building a befitting national team of our dream. Up till now the Federal govt turned deaf ears to the failure of the NFF despite the amount of money pumped into the training and development of the team for the World Cup. Everyone kept mute as if nothing happened,” Adelabu added.
An NFF official who pleaded anonymity, revealed that Chelle did not fulfil the main terms of the contract given to him by the NFF when he signed the contract to coach the Super Eagles last year.
“If Chelle wants to leave, he should come out boldly and tell the NFF instead of this outrageous demand of $130,000. Now, let me reveal the main two targets given to Chelle by the NFF when he signed the contract last year. First, he was told to qualify Nigeria for the 2026 World Cup and second, qualify the team for the final of 2025 AFCON tournament in Morocco. Did he fulfil these two? The answer is no.”
His inability to qualify the Nigeria for the 2026 World Cup notwithstanding, some Nigerians are of the opinion that Chelle tried his best considering Super Eagles’ poor position before he took over.
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