England Invites Chelsea, Spurs, Liverpool Starlets of Nigerian Descent

Nigeria’s D’Tigress, the reigning African champions, had the biggest move up on the FIBA World Ranking Women of any team, climbing a massive 15 places, from 34th to 19th in the latest listing. D’Tigress achieved this massive climb as a result of an inspiring run in Tenerife, Spain, where they reached the quarter-finals and, along the way, scored historic milestones, including the country’s first-ever win in the Group Phase of the competition and over European opposition, in the shape of Turkey.

According to the FIBA. Basketball release on Friday, USA and Spain were joined by Australia at the top of the FIBA World Ranking Women, presented by Nike, following the Opals’ run to the title game Tenerife.

The USA, on the back of being crowned world champions

The English Football Association on Friday morning announced the rosters for the U-19, U-20 and U-21 national teams and as expected, several dual-eligible English-Nigerian players have received invitations for the October fixtures.

Liverpool's Dominic Solanke, Chelsea duo Fikayo Tomori and Tammy Abraham, Tottenham

England have leapfrogged Nigeria in the race for Queens Park Rangers sensation Eberechi Eze after the striker cum attacking midfielder was included in the Young Lions squad for games in October.

Eze, who has caught the eye for QPR this campaign and was recently named the club's Player of the Month, has received his first call-up to the England team and could debut for the U-20s when they face Italy at Mill Farm, AFC Fylde on October 11.

Explaining why Eze was named in the 18-player squad, for the third time in a row (2010, 2014 and 2018) last Sunday, remains comfortably ahead of everyone else. Spain are their nearest rivals after claiming the last step on the podium at the Women’s World Cup which they hosted in Tenerife.

Australia moved up one spot to third in the world following their performance in the competition, where they returned to the final for the first time since winning the world title in 2006. They overtake France, who lost in the quarter-finals stage of the competition.

China were rewarded for reaching the Last Eight of the biggest women’s basketball competition – including knocking out Asian champions and rivals Japan in the quarter-final qualifications – by moving up three spots, from 10th to 7th.

There was also a huge leap for Belgium. The Belgians Hotspur's Josh Onomah and Everton wingerAdemola Lookman have all been named in the England U-21 squad.

England U-21s, coached by Aidy Boothroyd, battleAndorra and Scotland on October 11 and 16 respectively in the UEFA European U-21 Championship qualifiers and need a point to seal qualification. Paul Simpson told thefa.com :''We have a very similar squad to last month and are pleased to welcome Aaron Ramsdale back after injury.

''We have a couple of new faces in Kyle Edwards and Eberechi Eze, both of who have impressed at their clubs so far this season.''

Eze trained with Nigeria's National Team in London back in March 2017, along with exEngland U-19 captain Ola Aina who later became cap-tied to Nigeria ahead of the 2018 World Cup.

The 20-year-old Londoner registered the second biggest jump of any team in 2018, moving up 12 places, from 28th to 16th. This came on the strength of an impressive run on their Women’s World Cup debut that saw them finish fourth, behind USA, Australia and Spain.

Reacting to the latest ranking, NBBF President, Amadu Musa Kida, expressed delight in the hard work of the federation which saw a better prepared and motivated D'Tigress take on the world in a stunning fashion and has finally been recognised.

According to him, “with the recent feat of the team in 2017 when they emerged as African Champions before shocking the world at the 2018 FIBA World Cup, it was just a matter of time before the team took its pride of place.

"What a way to start October

Meanwhile, Felix Nmecha of Manchester City has been simultaneously invited to the England U-19 and Germany U-19 teams, and not for the first time, meaning the midfielder has to choose which of the invitations to honour.

Tottenham Hotspur centreback Timothy Eyoma is among eight defenders included in the has scored two goals in his last five matches in the EFL Championship.

England U-20s face Czech Republic in their second international friendly on October 15.

Meanwhile, Manchester City wonder kid of Nigerian descent Felix Nmecha has been called up to the Germany U-19 squad.

The Citizens U-23 star has previously made three appearances for Germany's U-18 national team against France and Russia.

Born in Hamburg but raised in England, he has represented for us as a team, federation and lovers of basketball. It was just a matter of time before this happened because the consistency of this team has been so amazing."

Kida said although the federation was still not satisfied with where the team is, they will savour the new found status while it lasts as the NBBF will continue to work assiduously to ensure future success.

"Now, we have to double our efforts because it will no longer be business as usual. More recognitions bring stiffer oppositions because we are gradually becoming a team to beat.

"Before now, the team was an unknown quantity, but with what they have achieved in the last one year, future opponents will pay more attention to them." 23-man squad by manager Keith Downing.

England U-19s' first game this month comes up against Portugal on October 11 before facing Macedonia at St. George’s Park on Tuesday 16 October.

As previously reported, Queens Park Rangers star Eberechi Eze has been named in the England U20 squad. the Young Lions at U-16 and U-18 level and all the matches were unofficial, meaning he could still feature for the Nigeria teams without requesting to change his association.

Nmecha has made five appearances for Manchester City youth teams so far this season, scoring two goals and recently captained the U-19s against TSG 1899 Hoffenheim in the UEFA Youth League.

His brother, Lukas Nmecha, has been loaned out by Manchester City to Championship club Preston North End for the 2018-19 Season.

Deontay Wilder and his team have been given a "much-improved" offer to face Anthony Joshua, but are still refusing to have a meeting, Eddie Hearn has revealed.

The Matchroom promoter and his father Barry have been trying to negotiate a unification showdown between Wilder and Joshua that would take place at Wembley Stadium on April 13.

Hearn Snr has already been denied a meeting and even though Eddie Hearn sent his second offer - involving more money and an updated percentage split - to Wilder's team, he admits he has been left frustrated and suggested "something doesn't smell right".

He told Sky Sports: "It's frustrating. We keep requesting these meetings and they don't want them to take place, which is a bit strange when you're talking about the biggest fight in world boxing - you can't negotiate fights like this over the internet or over a telephone.

"So we wrote to them after our fight with (Alexander) Povetkin and said we need to make our move soon because of mandatories in place for April 13, so could we have a meeting?

"They got back and said no, we're not interested in meeting you, make us an offer and we'll let you know.

"We went back and made a much-improved offer from the first one - this one with a percentage split - a very attractive offer and then requested a meeting, but they turned round and said 'no, we won't meet you'.

"There's not much we can do. It's frustrating because we know the public wants to see that fight and are putting pressure on us and Anthony Joshua, but we are continuously making offers, we keep requesting meetings and keep getting turned down.

"We will probably have to move forward with a fight before December 1, but we hoped that at least we could have a meeting so we can go face to face to discuss it.

"The previous offer was accepted and we sent a contract but they didn't respond, so this offer is much better than the previous offer.

"This is an improvement on the previous offer that was accepted. But obviously, if he won his fight with (Tyson) Fury, it would increase his value in the fight and we've taken that into consideration.

"It's only binding if he beats Fury so we have taken that into consideration and offered him more money. I am not expecting them to sign the deal within a week or two weeks, but we have to have a meeting."

Wilder will defend his WBC title against Fury in Los Angeles on December 1, and Hearn has pencilled in that date as decisive on the chances of the American agreeing to meet Joshua in April.

The promoter though, who is out in Chicago for the first Matchroom USA show, is not using it as a deadline, but again urged Wilder's co-manager Shelly Finkel to at least meetup and discuss the improved offer face to face.

Hearn said: "I understand Deontay Wilder has a fight with Tyson Fury to focus on but the job of an adviser or as a manager is to plan the future and if there is the opportunity to have an undisputed heavyweight world champions' fight, they have the responsibility to explore that.

"But they are not even willing to explore that and something doesn't smell right. But we've got to go about our own business. Can we wait until after December 1? Well there's mandatory situations as well, so it's just frustrating we can't even have a meeting to discuss it.