Kicking off!

Qualifying matches for the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations will kick off this weekend across the continent of Africa and Nigeria’s Super Eagles who failed to qualify for the last edition in Equatorial Guinea will take on ‘Les Sao’ of Chad in their opening match of Group E this afternoon at the Ahmadu Bello stadium Kaduna. The Super Eagles will go all out for victory because they wouldn’t want a repeat of what happened to them in 2014. The former Africa Champions commenced their 2015 AFCON qualifiers on a poor note, losing 0-1 to Congo in Calabar and in the end, they could not qualify for the continental showpiece.

Although the Eagles are highly favoured to win today’s match, the Chadians cannot be taken for granted because there are no more minnows in African football.

Our cover story therefore previews this important AFCON 2017 qualifying match between the Super Eagles and ‘Les Sao’ of Chad. While unmasking the little known Chadians who would try to make life difficult for the Super Eagles, we looked at Eagles preparations for the match.

We have also served you the incisive interview we had with former Super Falcons star and the most capped Nigerian female international, Maureen Nkiruka Mmadu shortly after Falcons opening group game against Sweden at the ongoing FIFA Women’s World Cup in Canada. The player who represented Nigeria at four World Cups and two Olympic Games spoke on the chances of the Super Falcons as she reiterated that the players fighting spirit must be commended. Mmadu is presently a coach with Avaldsnes IL, the last club she played for in Norway.

And after three weeks of break necessitated by the recently concluded political transition in the country, the Nigeria Premier League will resume tomorrow across the country. In this edition of SHOT!, we preview all the matches for this weekend. The talking point no doubt is the local derby in Port-Harcourt involving Dolphins and Sharks.

You will like to know the 20 highest paid athletes in the world. We therefore culled for your reading delight the list of the athletes whose problem is not how to make money but how to spend the millions they have amassed.

In our Euro Round Up, you will find an article written on the reigning world’s best footballer, Cristiano Ronaldo who is rated as the most marketable footballer in the world. You will also find interesting the Dani Alves and Carlos Tevez stories.

This is where we take a breather for this week. On behalf of the SHOT! crew, I welcome you to another thrilling moment with SHOT!.

Have a memorable weekend!