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Nine-time Olympics champion, Usain Bolt was voted the AIPS Best Male Athlete of 2016 for a record sixth time and the award for Best Female Athlete went to US gymnast and four-time champion from Rio 2016 Simone Biles.
This is the result of the most international poll yet by the International Sports Press Association (AIPS), where a panel of 382 journalists from 110 countries voted for the Champions of 2016.
Earlier yesterday, it was announced that Premier League Champions Leicester City F.C. was voted the Best Team, while the award for the Best Press Facility went to Euro 2016.
Proving to be the star of yet another Olympics year, Jamaica’s Usain Bolt completed a “triple triple” at Rio 2016, winning the Olympic titles in each of the 100m, 200m and 4x100m, after similar clean sweeps in London and Beijing.
Bolt is the first man to hold both the 100m and 200m records, and will be looking for his 12th IAAF World Championship title at London 2017, after which the Jamaican superstar is set to retire.
Bolt garnered top place with a landslide of 1149 votes, ahead of US swimmer and 23-time OlympicsGold medalist Michael Phelps, while Portugal and Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo, winner of the 2016 Golden Ball, is in third place with 387 votes.
The Olympic Games were the main stage for the Female Athletes of the year as well, as Simone Biles, the 19-year-old superstar from Rio 2016 stole the show, by winning a record-tying four individual Olympic gold medals and bronze with the dominant U.S. women’s team.
Biles, already regarded as one of the greatest Olympics gymnasts of all time, wowed the crowds in Rio with performances of dazzling complexity and focus and was pronounced as the Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year earlier this week.
The race for the AIPS Best Female Athlete of 2016 was one of the closest yet, with just over 50 votes separating first place Simone Biles (524) from three-time Olympic champion swimmer Katinka Hosszú from Hungary, in second place with 472 votes. Third place went to US tennis star Serena Williams (361) after yet another dominant year in which she won her 22nd Grand Slam title at Wimbledon.

by joe apu

Former Super Egales coach, Samason Siaisa  has rubbished the claims by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), that there was an agreement between the players and the Glass House to peg the team’s home winning bonus at N1million.
According to African Football.com, a statement from the NFF spokesman Ademola Olajire, and Eagles team administrator, Dayo Enebi, had claimed that the  officials as well as captain and vice-captain were at a meeting in March in Kaduna where it was agreed the players will be paid a million Naira each for a home win.
But Siasia has now rubbished such a claim.
“I don’t know anything about one million (Naira),” Siasia opened up when contacted on Thursday.
“The agreement was that they will pay the equivalent of dollars at the bank rate, official rate. I don’t know about anything else.”
He was further questioned – The agreement they had with you was they will pay with current bank rate and there was no time that the players will be paid a million Naira each for a home win?
“No, no, no,” he replied.
Several other officials equally denied any agreement that the players be paid a million Naira each for a Super Eagles home win.
They were to be paid $5,000 for a home win at the official Naira rate the time the match was played.
Further investigations revealed that at the time of the AFCON double-header qualifiers against Egypt, the official bank rate to the USD was around 200 Naira and that explained why they were paid 500,000 Naira each for the home draw with Egypt ($2500 x 200).
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Youth and Sports through Christian Ohaa, its permanent secretary said on Thursday that the allegations will be investigated.
“Based on the amount released to the NFF, nobody should shortchange the players again and I can tell you that we will look into it, I just got the report now and we will look into it,” Ohaa said.
AfricanFootball.com had reported on Wednesday, allegations by some Super Eagles players of being shortchanged on their win bonus for the 2018 World Cup qualifier against Algeria by the NFF.
Although, the NFF denied the allegations via a statement released also on Wednesday, claiming they had an agreement with the players to be paid a flat sum of a million Naira for home wins.

All football lovers will agree, that 2016 has been a very eventful year in the world of football, and whether it was the EPL, Laliga, Euro Cup, Copa America, Rio Olympics, Champions league and even women's  and youth tournaments, soccer fanatics were glued to their Tv sets as they watched their favorite players fight for glory on the pitch.



Not surprisingly, no Nigerian player made the list, but Mikel Obi made the substitute bench for his exploits at Rio 2016, Ballon d'or winner C.Ronaldo was included for his heroics at Euro 2016 with Portugal and champions league success with Real Madrid while Jamie Vardy starts upfront in my team of the year.

See the World football team of the year 2016 below, and say whether you agree or not (with reasons)..


Formation :  4-3-3

Goalkeeper : David De Gea: His breathtaking saves were the major reason Man U ended in top 7 last season and also won the F.A cupand what makes his success so remarkable is the fact that he turned around to snub a Madrid move and refocused on his Old Trafford career. De Gea simply put, makes saves, dives and flies that even birds could dream of, no wonder he's been votes Man U's player of the season for three years in a row.

Defenders : Sergio Ramos, Pepe, Wes Morgan, Marcelo
Sergio Ramos' inclusion is no-brainer actually! Apart from the fact he's a defensive stalwart, a no-nonsense defender who can actually play three different positions, his very crucial goals for Real Madrid have helped the club win the Champions league, Club World Cup and very crucial matches. Wes Morgan together with Huth helped Leicester city have a defensive line up that ensured the won the EPL title. Morgan is highly under-appreciated, but real football lovers know a good defender when they see one.

Pepe, with his full throttle approach towards defending, helped Portugal and Real Madrid win the Euros and champions league while Marcelo is undoubtedly still the best left full back in the world.

Midfielders:  N'Golo Kante, Kevin De Bruyne, Iniesta

This was the hardest category to choose because there are a lot of talented footballers that play in midfield who deserve to be here but aren't. De Bruyne can easily be classed among the best midfielders in the world this 2016 for his great performances with Belgium and most especially Man City who he helped to win the League cup.

Kante, the bedrock and solidity of Leicester city in their title winning season is undoubtedly the best defensive midfielder in world football at the moment. He's now playing for Chelsea and the likes of Mikel Obi, Matic and Oscar had to be sacrificed because of how well he shields the defence line for Chelsea, and France too! . Iniesta, a midfield general is included for his title winning forays in midfield for Barcelona even though he will admit it's not been the best of years for Barcelona or Spain.


Strikers : Cristiano Ronaldo, Jamie Vardy , Lionel Messi

Jamie Vardy- from being a technician making medical splints in 2006, to the man who led Leicester city to a record breaking premier league title, beating Van Nistelrooy's goals record in the process.He deserves to be in this team of the year list.
Lionel Messi had a not too good year judging by his standards, but led Barca to
 La Liga and Copa Del Rey titles. He retired from national duty after failing to lead Argentia to national glory at Copa America but later revoked his retirement. For scoring 51 goals in 2016, he makes the team of the year list.

Coach of the year : Claudio Ranieri (Leicester city)/  Fernando Santos (Portugal)

Claudio Ranieri is tied with Fernando Santos in this category for two reasons;
 1. They could have achieved less and no one would have complained or blamed them for doing so.
2. They both won very important trophies with squads that were average except one or two star players. They injected the spirit of unity, passion and never-say-die attitude into their players, hence their team's success.

Player of the year : Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid/Portugal)- The Real Madrid player really has no competition in the world of football this year. Apart from winning the UEFA Champions league and Euro Cup with Real Madrid and Portugal respectively, he also won the Club World Cup in Japan this December and has also won the 2016 Ballon D'or award.
 He also showed exceptional leadership qualities during the Euro cup finals, as he came back to the pitch to motivate/coach his teammates till the last minute despite being stretchered off the pitch for a serious knee injury. Exceptional player!


Team of the year Substitutes/bench:

Laurent Koschielny (France/Arsenal),Gareth Bale (Real Madrid/Wales), Antoinne Griezmann (France/ Atl. Madrid), Iniesta (Barcelona/Spain), Leonardo Bonnucci (Juventus/Italy), Luis Suarez (Barcelona/Uruguay), Neymar (Barcelona/ Brazil), Alexis Sanchez (Arsenal/Chile), Manuel Neuer (B.Munich, Germany), Mikel Obi (Nigeria/Chelsea), Riyad Mahrez (Leicester City/ Algeria), Paul Pogba (Juventus/Man U/ France)Luka Modric (Real Madrid/Croatia), Andres Gomes (Portugal/Barca). Thibaut Courtois (Chelsea/ Belgium), Zlatan Ibrahimovic (PSG/ Man U/ Sweden)

Dad i and my siblings Love You very much and wish you more years ahead ahead! You are a Father indeed ! the backbone to our success and every Right Steps we have made so Far as Family (you are the Best Head any Family could wish for, we are so lucky to have you! Dad as the last baby of the house. my prayers will always be like! lord please keep my dad for us so we continue to see many more years together in good health, Favour more success ,LLnp!!!
            from your last child.. Gift Nta    

Actress Hilary Duff shared a photo of herself and her 4 year old son at Disneyland and captioned it:

"Happiest happiest happiest happiest happiest happiest happiest happiest place on earth! We love you @disneyland 🙌🏻❤️🙌🏻❤️🙌🏻❤️🙌🏻❤️🙌🏻❤️🙌🏻❤️🙌🏻❤️🙌🏻"

But some people didn't like the way she kissed her son in the photo and lashed out at her. She clapped back at them with the response below:

Nollywood Actress Chacha Eke Faani whose renowned love for being fashionably trendy in African wears, has this week officially opened her luxury fashion house "Print Afrique Fashion Ltd" in Abuja, Nigeria.

The luxury showroom located at No 19 Aminu Kano Crescent, Wuse 2 Abuja features all things made in print fabrics, western wares & extreme couture collections ranging from: Ready to wear, Made to fit, Ankara bags, purses & shoes, Ankara upholstery, kiddies wears in prints,  jewelries etc.