Sports
African Rising Stars To Watch
Very soon the BBC African
Footballer of the year 2014 would be revealed.
While those five names would be established superstars from the continent, there are also a number of excellent young players coming through the ranks – emerging talent who themselves may soon compete for the title.
Vincent Aboubakar
Vincent Aboubakar is beginning to fulfil his potential at the perfect time.
The 22-year-old striker’s push to the next level has earned him the reward of a recent move to one of Europe’s top clubs in Porto and also given his country much-needed hope.
After a miserable World Cup this year and the subsequent retirement of captain Samuel Eto’o, there were concerns as to what the future held for Cameroon.
But Aboubakar has stepped up to the plate in a big way after being the understudy to Eto’o in the national team.
And he has scored three times in Cameroon’s campaign to qualify for the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations.
His goals have helped to give the Indomitable Lions a great chance of reaching the finals for the first time since 2010.
It has made him a firm favourite with Cameroon fans, who have delighted in his progress since he was drafted into the squad for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa as an 18-year-old.
He didn’t get to play in 2010, but his selection was a sign of his young talent as the only home-based player in the Indomitable Lions’ squad.
At that time Aboubakar was on the books of local side Coton Sport, but he soon moved to Valenciennes in France.
However, he had three fairly quiet seasons there as his career stalled.
A transfer to Lorient in July last year sparked him back into life and he produced by far his most prolific season.
Utilising his imposing frame, speed, strength, ability on the ball and clinical finishing he scored 17 goals in 37 matches.
And when he went to this summer’s World Cup in Brazil, he was no longer there just to warm the bench.
He made two starts but was unable to find the net for a team that was in disarray, beset by off-field problems and indiscipline on the pitch.
But his qualities caught the eye of a number of suitors, including English Premier League side Hull City.
Aboubakar opted for a move to Portugal and has already scored twice in four appearances for Porto.
It is a healthy start to his four-year contract with the club, and he looks to have plenty more to offer.
Expect Aboubakar to continue his development and flourish for both club and county.
Serge Aurier
At only 21-years-old, Serge Aurier has already been labelled by admirers as the best right-back in France.
Born in Ouragahio, Ivory Coast, Aurier moved to France as a child to join his parents in Seine-Saint-Denis, in the north-eastern suburbs of Paris.
His first contact with the game started at local side FC Villepinte, where he was spotted by officials of RC Lens.
He came through the youth system at Lens and aged 17 he made his professional debut in the French Ligue 2 in 2009.
Aurier was a stand-out performer as the club secured top-flight promotion. He went on to make 31 appearances for the club in Ligue 1 the following season.
His form brought him a move to Toulouse in January 2012 and he blossomed in south-western France, proving his versatility by playing defensive midfield, in central defence and at right-back.
He soon attracted interest from several European clubs and also caught the attention of the Ivory Coast selectors.
In Jun 2013 he made his debut for the Elephants against Gambia and immediately settled in, quickly displacing the more experienced Emmanuel Eboue.
He was selected in the Ivorians’ World Cp squad and was the shining light in Ivory Coast’s mixed bag of a campaign in Brazil.
Defensively sound, he also provided two assists in the game against Japan, crossing for forwards Wilfried Bony and Gervinho to get the goals that gave their side a 2-1 win.
Legendary Ivory Coast striker Didier Drogba said of Aurier after the game against Japan: “He’s the best right-back in all of France.”
Aurier’s physique and sheer power make him a difficult man to play against. He is also very comfortable on the ball, has great positional sense, is quick and reads the game well.
An attack-minded player, he not only created seven goals but was one of Toulouse’s top scorers with six last season. He does, however, have a tendency to fly into challenges and he was booked 11 times last term.
After the World Cup, Aurier joined French champions Paris St-Germain on loan from Toulouse. But he has found life tough going at PSG and knows he could soon face a crossroads in his career.
He will be hoping to break into the first team and convince PSG to take up their option to sign him permanently at the end of the season.
Nabil Bentaleb
Nabil Bentaleb’s career got off to a rocky start.
Released by his hometown club, Lille, at 15, he moved to Belgian side Mouscron before arriving at Dunkerque in the third tier of French football.
Shown the door by all three clubs, Bentaleb’s agent took him across the channel for a trial at Birmingham City, which again proved unsuccessful.
It wasn’t until the then Tottenham manager, Harry Redknapp, cast his eye over the diminutive midfielder in 2012, that Bentaleb’s fortunes turned around.
Two weeks after a trial, he signed for Spurs and kick-started a career which, since the end of 2013, has taken in the Premier league, European football and a World Cup.
His club career took off when Tim Sherwood was appointed Tottenham manager. Sherwood had worked with Bentaleb in Tottenham’s youth set-up, and thrust him into the first team, giving his debut against Southampton in December 2013.
Since then his quick feet, eye for a pass and composure have shone through, drawing praise from pundits and managers aplenty.
And as his stock rose, Bentaleb began to attract international attention.
Born in France to Algerian parents, the 19-year-old had to decide between the two, eventually pledging his international future to the Desert Foxes.
In March 2014, Bentaleb made his debut for Algeria against Slovenia in a friendly. Starting the match in a defensive midfield role, he impressed with, his creativity, tough tackling and relentless work-rate.
His continued good form at club level led to his selection in Algeria’s World Cup squad. Now oozing confidence, Bentaleb scored his first international goal in a World Cup warm-up match against Romania.
In Brazil, Bentaleb played every minute of Algeria’s World Cup group campaign and was unlucky not to be selected in the 16 defeat by Germany.
Back in the Premier League, Bentaleb has started this season where he left off, with new Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino selecting him ahead of more established stars at the club.
Steve Vickers Writes For BBC Sports
Steve Vickers
Nigerian football fans and former internationals may have finally joined the call on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to save Nigerian football from the grip of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), demanding a complete overhaul and the resignation of the board following a series of national-team heartbreaks, including the Super Eagles’ failure to qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, their second consecutive absence and the Super Falcons’ recent loss of an automatic qualification spot for the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Brazil.
Until now, football legend Segun Odegbami has been a lone voice in the vanguard of those calling on the Ibrahim Gusau-led NFF board to step aside. However, many ex-internationals, angered that the national embarrassment has now spilled over to the women’s team, have joined the call to “save our football.”
“We are demanding a total systemic clear-out and consequences at every tier of Nigerian football,” one of the former players said yesterday, pleading to remain anonymous to avoid “arrows” from what he described as desperate officials holding Nigerian football by the jugular.
Ahead of the September 27, 2026 elective congress of the NFF, scheduled to hold in Lafia, Nasarawa State, Chairman of the Advocacy for Nigeria Football Reforms Initiative, Prince Harrison Jalla, has also painted a gloomy picture of the future of Nigerian football.
Jalla’s position is in tandem with that of some aspirants who are also crying blue murder, alleging that the electoral procedure is skewed in favour of incumbent NFF President Ibrahim Musa Gusau to secure a smooth passage to a second term unopposed.
Jalla insisted that “all indicators are pointing to a gloomy picture for the future of Nigerian football, mainly due to administrative ineptitude, while the gladiators remain engrossed and fixated on the election.”
“The major crux of the election is the guidelines, which make it very difficult for other candidates to secure endorsements from across the six geopolitical zones to challenge Gusau.
“The NFF elective congress creates a skewed voting structure because [certain blocs] hold an overwhelming majority of the voting power, which critics argue marginalises key football stakeholders such as club owners, players, coaches, referees and sports writers.
“Out of the total delegates and voting structure, the 37 State FA chairmen form the primary voting bloc, making it difficult for independent candidates to win.
“This is so because of the marriage between the FA chairmen and the NFF. Most FA chairmen depend solely on the Federation for favours. Over time, during national and international engagements, the NFF uses such opportunities to reward the FA chairmen with trips and estacodes.
“They have been so compromised that no Jupiter would make them see reasons for a change. The system, therefore, heavily favours the incumbent leadership seeking re-election. That explains why they were in a hurry to pass a vote of confidence in the NFF leadership even when Nigerian football became topsy-turvy.
“As desperation has beclouded their reasoning, they have forgotten how low they have dragged Nigerian football.”
A cursory look at the catalogue of failures by Nigeria’s national teams will reveal this;
Super Eagles (Senior Men): Failed to qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Their campaign ended in agonising fashion in November 2025 during the CAF playoff final, when they lost 4–3 on penalties to DR Congo. This marked the second consecutive World Cup missed by the senior national team. Earlier, in January 2026, they were also eliminated from the 2025 AFCON via a penalty shootout.
Super Falcons (Senior Women): Suffered an early continental exit by losing 1–0 to Cameroon in the 2026 WAFCON quarter-finals. The defeat stripped them of an automatic ticket to the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Brazil, forcing them into an inter-confederation playoff route. Worse still, Banyana Banyana of South Africa stopped the Super Falcons with a 2-1 defeat in Morocco, marking Nigeria’s worst outing in the history of WAFCON.
Golden Eaglets (Men’s U-17): Failed to qualify for the U-17 AFCON and subsequently missed out on three consecutive FIFA U-17 World Cups — 2023, 2025 and 2026.
Flying Eagles (Men’s U-20): Missed both the 2026 U-20 AFCON and the FIFA U-20 World Cup.
Olympic Team (Men’s U-23): Failed to qualify for the 2023 U-23 AFCON, which directly resulted in their failure to qualify for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
An official NFF apology to the government and Nigerians was met with backlash, with fans dismissing it as “too little, too late” and “one apology too many”, while demanding actual resignations.
The current frustration among fans stems from what they regard as an unprecedented catalogue of systemic failures across all tiers of Nigeria’s national teams.
Segun Odegbami said the failures had become one too many.
“If you fail to take your team to the World Cup, you find out that more often than not, they vote you out or sack you.
“That’s the measure. If you have a coach who doesn’t do well, they sack him. If you have a player who is doing badly, you remove him.”
“These guys have not succeeded. They’re our friends; that’s the painful thing. We know ourselves. We are all in the business and, when we champion the fact that they should go, they make you an enemy.
“It’s not a personalised thing. They have failed and, if we go back to that route, we are going to fail as we have failed before,” he said.
The financial damage from missing recent major tournaments is equally devastating, with total losses estimated at between ?150 billion and ?300 billion in direct payouts and broader economic partnerships.
This continuous string of qualification failures has effectively choked off the federation’s primary revenue pipelines and left its local development initiatives starved of funds.
The economic wreckage breaks down across several critical areas. By failing to reach the expanded World Cup, the NFF forfeited a guaranteed baseline participation fee of $10.5 million, reportedly worth roughly ?15.5 billion.
This single tournament loss wiped out an amount equivalent to roughly 87 per cent of the NFF’s projected annual operational budget. Had the Super Eagles advanced beyond the group stage, the rewards would have risen above $12 million, while reaching the quarter-finals could have yielded up to $20 million in performance-related payments.
Early exits by the Super Falcons and the qualification failures of the youth teams, U-17, U-20 and U-23, mean the NFF has also missed out on vital developmental subsidies and travel grants normally provided by continental governing bodies.
Corporate organisations and major sports betting companies are scaling back their sponsorship valuations. Without global television exposure, the NFF cannot command premium rates for brand placement.
The federation also misses out on potential revenue from global jersey sales, training gear and licensed supporter memorabilia that normally spike around major tournaments.
By missing out on tournament participation, Nigeria also loses leverage to draw heavily from FIFA’s financial programmes aimed at upgrading domestic training academies and pitches.
Consecutive missed World Cups have further lowered the market value of the national team brand, making future broadcast and marketing rights significantly harder to sell at a premium.
Former Ajax midfielder Hedwiges Maduro has praised Nigerian striker Tolu Arokodare, highlighting the forward’s strength and power and suggesting that he could prove valuable to Ajax in the Eredivisie.
Arokodare joined Ajax from Wolverhampton Wanderers on a season-long loan in July, with the Dutch club holding an option to make the move permanent.
He has already made an impact for his new side, providing an assist in Ajax’s 2-0 victory over PEC Zwolle in their opening Eredivisie fixture.
Maduro discussed Arokodare’s qualities during an appearance on ESPN’s Voetbalpraat, where he assessed how the Nigerian could complement Ajax’s attacking options.
He sees Arokodare as offering a different profile to Marcos Leonardo, particularly against opponents who defend deep and limit the space available for attacking runs.
Speaking about the Nigerian striker, Maduro highlighted his physical qualities and explained why he believes they could make him a valuable option for Ajax in the Dutch top flight.
“I think Tolu has something special, in terms of strength and power. I think he can be of real value in the Eredivisie,” Maduro said, as quoted by Ajax Showtime.
According to Maduro, the tactical demands of certain matches could make Arokodare’s physical presence an important option for Ajax, especially when opponents retreat towards their own penalty area.
He contrasted the situation with Leonardo, who he believes benefits from having space to make attacking runs. Maduro explained that when teams defend deep, those spaces become more difficult to find.
“Leonardo needs space. If teams drop back completely, where are you going to make those runs?
Then you get more use out of Tolu as a focal point to drop the ball,” he added.
The Chairman of the Local Organizing Committee, LOC, of the Arsenal Nigeria Converge 2026, Ugochukwu Oputa, has said that over 25 states across Nigeria were involved in the second edition of the Arsenal Converge scheduled for Port Harcourt from August 14 to 16, 2026.
Oputa disclosed this on Sunday after the Converge meeting at the Ediz Wine Bar in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
According to him, Arsenal’s popularity cuts across the nation, and the Converge is organized to provide a period for supporters to network, interact, and harmonize.
“Knowing how Arsenal’s popularity is spread across the nation, it became necessary that all the different supporters of Arsenal club across the country harmonize and create a particular period where we can meet, network and interact,” Oputa said.
He outlined the five-day schedule of activities to include
Press conference,
Environmental sanitation and community service at Mile 1 Market, Diobu, involving both visitors and residents, arrival, welcome and cocktail party. Others included Games Day, football competition and other fun activities at the Rivers State University football pitch, Community Shield watch party yesterday, where all Arsenal supporters’ groups met, interacted, and discussed the future of Arsenal, including plans for the 2027 hosting rights of the Converge.
Oputa added that this year’s Converge which was in Port Harcourt, had over 3,000 fans registered.
“Port Harcourt Arsenal Community is a recognized supporters’ club of Arsenal in London and we have over 25 states that participated in the Arsenal Nigeria Converge 2026,” he said.
Also speaking, a member of the Nigeria Arsenal Supporters Working Committee, Nsikak Ntia, said that what distinguishes Arsenal supporters is their offline community impact.
“What we are doing here in Port Harcourt is beyond football. It’s a family that is growing. We had over 3,000 to 4,000 people on Saturday at the Rivers State University that shared the confidence that Arsenal represents,” Ntia said.
He noted that the club’s motto, ‘Victoria Concordia Crescit’ – ‘Victory Through Harmony’ – is the bedrock of the group.
“The work that we do at Mile 1 Market is to help with environmental protection and increase what we do in society.
“We also have future plans to promote environmental protection and better ways to handle waste.
“These are things that are germane for our future, the future of our young people and generations unborn.
” It goes beyond football, it goes beyond banter, it goes beyond yapping at each other.
“That is what Arsenal Football Club is all about. Arsenal has the most well-organized supporters’ club in Nigeria and Africa’ he sated.