Rivers United Football Club has handed over 50 replica jerseys to the Akwa Ibom State Football Association ahead of Sunday’s CAF Champions League first-round second-leg clash against San Pedro of Côte d’Ivoire.

The jerseys were presented to the Akwa Ibom State Commissioner for Sports, Elder Paul Bassey, on Thursday, by the Rivers United delegation to his office in Uyo. The Commissioner subsequently handed them over to the Akwa Ibom State Football Association for distribution to supporters ahead of the match.

Rivers United, led by the Sole Administrator of the club, Barrister Christopher Green, and General Manager, Mr Okey Kpaloku, also appealed to football-loving fans in Akwa Ibom State to turn out in large numbers and support the Nigerian representatives when they take on San Pedro at the Godswill Akpabio International Stadium, Uyo, on Sunday, September 13, 2026.

The match is scheduled to kick off at 4pm.

Rivers United will be looking to make the most of home advantage after securing a valuable 1-1 draw against San Pedro in the first leg in Côte d’Ivoire.

The club had earlier announced that 50 Rivers United replica jerseys would be given to the first 50 fans to arrive at the stadium on Sunday. The jerseys have now been handed over to the Akwa Ibom State Football Association ahead of the match-day giveaway.

Fenerbahce coach Ismail Kartal stunned his players by announcing his resignation just minutes after the Turkish club’s 1-1 draw with Roma in the Champions League.

Kartal, 65, told a press conference that he was leaving “never to return” after overseeing Fenerbahce’s first Champions League match in 18 years on Thursday night.

The Istanbul side rescued a point against Roma thanks to English-born defender Archie Brown’s second-half goal, which cancelled out Bryan Cristante’s first-half opener.

Brown, 24, learned of Kartal’s resignation during a post-match interview and the stunned left-back had to seek clarification from Fenerbahce’s press officer.

“What do you mean he resigned? As what? As coach? What do you mean by resigned? He’s not the coach any more? He said this just now? I didn’t know about this.”

To add to the confusion, Fenerbahce president Aziz Yildirim told reporters that he would not be accepting Kartal’s resignation and said he “continues in his role”.

“Some fans threw ⁠a bottle at the coach’s head this evening during ​the ⁠game. He is upset ‌about it,” Yildirim said.

“I just spoke to Ismail Kartal. He mentioned the bottle incident and he also complained about being under pressure.”

Kartal, a former player and coach of Fenerbahce, returned for his fourth spell in charge in June. The team had started the Turkish Super Lig season with two wins and two defeats.

“As of this evening, I congratulate my players and resign from my position,” Kartal said. “I made this decision to pave the way for my club. We made this decision together as a team.

“From now on, to help Fenerbahce, my players and future coaches, I have resigned from my position, with the intention of never returning.”

Asked if ‌Kartal had told him that he would stay, Yildirim said: “There’s no need for him to say that he’d continue. I ⁠am his senior, I told him to continue and that’s it. We are a family.”

Mike Evans, Demarcus Robinson and Deebo Samuel caught touchdown passes from Brock Purdy, and the San Francisco 49ers routed the Los Angeles Rams 27-7 Friday in the first NFL regular-season game in Australia.

Purdy passed for 205 yards against the Rams’ ineffective defense at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in front of 100,021 fans, the seventh-largest regular season crowd in NFL history.

Australia’s sporting capital reveled in its first real taste of American football — and in a dominant win by the 49ers, who had already won many Aussies’ affection by traveling to Melbourne a week earlier than the Rams, who only boomeranged in on Thursday morning.

A party atmosphere prevailed even with a Friday morning kickoff necessary to hit the lucrative primetime television audiences in the U.S. The fans got another memorable chapter in this NFC West rivalry as the 49ers blasted the preseason Super Bowl favorite Rams with superior play on both sides of the ball.

Kyren Williams scored the NFL’s first Australian touchdown on a 5-yard rush to begin the second quarter. but the Rams were a disaster Down Under. Los Angeles hadn’t lost by more than seven points since November 2024.

While Purdy’s offense managed enough big plays to win, the San Francisco defense frustrated NFL MVP Matthew Stafford into a 15-of-25 performance for just 155 yards. The Niners held the NFL’s best offense last season to one score, even stopping Stafford on a fourth-down quarterback sneak from the San Francisco 1 in the third quarter.

Reigning AP NFL Defensive Player of the Year Myles Garrett was practically invisible in his Rams debut after missing much of training camp with aches, recording zero tackles.

Much of the pregame talk for this trip centered around the teams’ starkly differing methods of preparation: The 49ers ingratiated themselves to the local fans as their body clocks adjusted, while the Rams stayed home until less than two days before kickoff, keeping their body clocks on California time.

Both teams started with understandable sluggishness for a 10:35 a.m. kickoff, but Williams’ TD run finally got the crowd cheering. The quarterbacks then traded interceptions before Purdy shook off a shaky start and found former Rams receiver Robinson on a 39-yard post route.

San Francisco surged out of halftime, with Samuel’s 45-yard kickoff return leading to Evans’ TD catch over new Rams cornerback Jaylen Watson.

The Rams drove deep into the red zone, but after Puka Nacua was ruled down inches outside the goal line, the 49ers stuffed Stafford.

NEW DELHI: What would MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma have looked like if they had played cricket in the 1980s? A viral AI trend on social media is giving fans an answer, transforming some of India’s biggest cricket stars into retro versions of themselves.The AI-generated pictures have given Dhoni, Kohli, Rohit and Shreyas Iyer vintage hairstyles, colourful outfits and classic 1980s settings.The trend has now spread across the cricket world, with IPL teams and several cricketers joining in and sharing their own 1980s avatars.

Cricketers embrace the retro trend

Yuzvendra Chahal kept his caption short and simple with ‘Retro mode: ON’. Shikhar Dhawan embraced the throwback theme, writing, ‘The ’80s called. We picked up.’ Irfan Pathan also joined the fun, posting, ‘Trend rukni Nahi chahiye. Let’s go back to 80s.’ID@undefined Caption not available.ID@undefined Caption not available.ID@undefined Caption not available.ID@undefined Caption not available.ID@undefined Caption not available.ID@undefined Caption not available.ID@undefined Caption not available.ID@undefined Caption not available.ID@undefined Caption not available.ID@undefined Caption not available.

IPL teams join the 1980s craze

The trend has also caught the attention of IPL franchises, with several teams creating 1980s versions of their players. Mumbai Indians were among the teams to join the trend.Rohit Sharma was reimagined sitting on a vintage chair in a scene inspired by retro Bollywood, while Jasprit Bumrah was shown enjoying tea at an old-style Irani cafe.ID@undefined Caption not available.ID@undefined Caption not available.ID@undefined Caption not available.ID@undefined Caption not available.ID@undefined Caption not available.Rajasthan Royals also shared several retro images of their players. Yashasvi Jaiswal, captain Riyan Parag and young star Vaibhav Sooryavanshi were among those given 1980s makeovers.Kolkata Knight Riders joined in with images of players such as Tim Seifert and Angkrish Raghuvanshi placed in iconic Kolkata locations, including College Street and Park Street.ID@undefined Caption not available.ID@undefined Caption not available.ID@undefined Caption not available.ID@undefined Caption not available.ID@undefined Caption not available.Punjab Kings gave their players vintage makeovers, with captain Shreyas Iyer and Yuzvendra Chahal among those featured. Head coach Ricky Ponting was also given a 1980s look, taking him back to a time before he made his cricket debut.Gujarat Titans were among the other franchises to embrace the trend, focusing on captain and opener Shubman Gill. He was shown in different retro settings alongside his teammates.ID@undefined Caption not available.ID@undefined Caption not available.ID@undefined Caption not available.ID@undefined Caption not available.ID@undefined Caption not available.

Nasser Hussain’s hilarious reaction

The trend has not been limited to Indian cricketers.ID@undefined Caption not available.ID@undefined Caption not available.ID@undefined Caption not available.ID@undefined Caption not available.ID@undefined Caption not available.Former England pacer Stuart Broad also joined the viral craze, creating AI-generated 1980s versions of some of his former England teammates, including Nasser Hussain and Eoin Morgan.Hussain gave humorous descriptions of each AI-generated version, leaving his fellow commentators in laughter.

Elena Rybakina, of Kazakhstan, reacts as she wins her match against Coco Gauff, of the United States, during the women’s singles semifinals of the U.S. Open tennis championships Thursday, Sept. 10, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

NEW YORK–Elena Rybakina rallied from a set down to beat Coco Gauff 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 on Thursday and book a US Open championship showdown with two-time defending champion Aryna Sabalenka.

In Saturday’s final Rybakina will try to deal another blow to Sabalenka, having knocked her out of the number one world ranking just by reaching the semi-finals.

“I feel like I definitely need to step my game up, serve much better than today and stay aggressive,” Rybakina said of her looming clash with Sabalenka.

Gauff’s bid to return to the final for the first time since she defeated Sabalenka for the 2023 title had got off to a smooth start, with the American seizing the initiative in the opening set with a break to go 4-2 up.

Coco Gauff, of the United States, left, greets Elena Rybakina, of Kazakhstan, after Rybakina won their match during the women’s singles semifinals of the U.S. Open tennis championships Thursday, Sept. 10, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

She held to love to take a 5-2 lead and then held in the ninth game to take a one set lead.

But Rybakina hit back with an early break of serve in the second set for a 3-1 lead and held to go 4-1 up.

Gauff responded superbly to claw her way back into contention with a break to make it 4-3 before holding to square it a 4-4.

Yet she was unable to make the most of her fightback and double-faulted in the 10th game to hand two set points to Rybakina at 15-40. Rybakina pounced on that chance to take the match to a third set.

The decisive set followed a similar pattern.

Gauff conceded a break to trail 5-3 and leave Rybakina serving for the match.

But the American broke back immediately to make it 5-4 to get it back on serve.

Again though Gauff was unable to capitalize, and a deft volley from Rybakina left her with two match points at 15-40, before Gauff then hit a wide open smash long to hand her opponent victory.

“It was such a cool third set — I feel like I was a little bit lucky on her serve,” Rybakina said. “A couple of deep returns, one mistake from her, it went quickly my way…it was a real battle.”

FILE–Calvin Oftana was the lone bright spot for Gilas Pilipinas in its Asian Games 2026 men’s basketball opener vs Bahrain. -FIBA PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines–Gilas Pilipinas’ defense of the men’s 5-on-5 basketball gold in the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games 2026 got off to a rocky start on Friday with an 89-85 loss to Bahrain.

A rough stretch between the second and third quarters spelled doom for Gilas as it went down in defeat against a Bahraini side that had four naturalized players at Aichi International Arena.

Of those four, former Jakarr Simpson gave Gilas a world of trouble with his 24 points plus eight assists as Bahrain won its Group C encounter.

LIVE: Gilas Pilipinas vs Bahrain – Asian Games 2026 men’s basketball

Calvin Oftana fired a game-high 31 points as he served as the lone bright spot for Gilas despite being a last-minute inclusion following Justin Brownlee’s latest absence from the national team.

But Oftana couldn’t get consistent support from the rest, with Gilas struggling to get a consistent offensive game going while its defense couldn’t contain Sampson, Mustafa Rashed and big-bodied Elijah Thomas.

Rashed scored 20 points on 4-of-11 threes while Thomas also had 20 for Bahrain.

READ: Calvin Oftana, lone holdover from champion squad, joins Gilas in Japan

The loss put Gilas in a desperate situation, needing to beat Kazakhstan on Saturday to keep its hopes of making the quarterfinals as either the top-two finisher or one of the two best third-place finishers from the three groups. Kazakhstan lost 99-61 to China in the earlier game.

Adrian Nocum added 14 points, seven rebounds and five assists before going down late with an ankle injury, while Justine Baltazar and Don Trollano added 10 and nine.

Gilas appeared to have shaken off a flat start and went up 43-41 on a Baltazar basket, only for Bahrain to score eight unanswered to go into the half leading 49-43.

From there, Bahrain stretched its lead further, scoring five in a row to open the third and never looked back, as Gilas struggled to close the gap.

It was only in the final minute that Gilas was able to cut the deficit to a respectable margin when Nocum scored on a layup before twisting his right ankle, Baltazar converted a basket, and Don Trollano hit a corner three with a few seconds to go.

India pacer Mohammad Siraj has attributed his drop in pace and rhythm since the recent tour of Sri Lanka to an extended two-month break but asserted that bowling long spells in the Duleep Trophy has given him strong hints of pieces falling in place ahead of another international season. From the tour of the Island nation for a two-match Test series, Siraj looked a distant shadow of himself, bowling in the late 120s instead of his more regular pace of early to mid 140s. While the spinners understandably handled the majority of overs, Siraj, who bowled 44 overs across four innings in that rubber, could not trouble the batters at any stage of the match.

“Coming off a two-month break straight into a match, my rhythm wasn’t quite there. I’m purely a rhythm bowler. If I’m not in sync, I simply can’t explode through the crease,” Siraj told select media after the Duleep Trophy final here.

“That was the struggle in Sri Lanka; my run-up felt disjointed. Some strides were too short, others were too long, and that broke my flow and cost me pace,” he added.

After the one-off Test against Afghanistan that ended on June 8, Siraj took a two-month break before joining India’s tour of Sri Lanka, which began with a game against SLC XI on August 7.

But Siraj felt that the 41 overs he put in for South Zone against East Zone in the Duleep Trophy final at Chepauk had readied his body for another gruelling season.

“Out here, everything clicked into place, and the pace followed naturally. Yes, it was very tough. We came straight from Sri Lanka, where we spent three and a half days fielding in the second Test (at Colombo), and within a week, we were out here playing in Chennai’s sweltering heat.

“But for me, it comes down to passion. When you’re representing your country, you can’t make excuses. You have to give every ounce of effort for your team and nation.” Siraj was taken to cleaners by East batters in the first innings here, conceding 140 runs in 25 overs, and had to wait till the second innings to take a wicket.

But the Hyderabad man is not unduly worried.

“Even if I didn’t get the wickets to show for it today, that hard work will pay off at the international level.” His primary aim behind playing the Duleep Trophy was to regain rhythm rather than adding a few scalps to his first-class tally.

“Heading into this game, finding that flow was my primary goal. Playing this match helped me tremendously. After two months off, your body doesn’t react the same way—everything feels a beat slower. Getting through this game got my body moving again and brought my rhythm right back,” he said.

The 32-year-old explained that his body is attuned to putting in hard yards rather than taking long breaks from the game, even though it allowed him to work on other facets like fitness parameters.

“That’s just how my body works. My body doesn’t handle long breaks well. A short breather is fine, but in my 10-year career, I had never taken two full months off. So, the more overs I bowl, the better I get.

“If I don’t bowl extended spells, my rhythm won’t return. The break left my body feeling sluggish at the crease. I bowled spells of 10 and 11 overs, and that’s exactly what locked me back into rhythm,” he noted.

An out of sync body also created the illusion of him using a shortened run-up, but Siraj said he has regained the flow in his action after bowling long spells in the Duleep Trophy.

“My approach (to bowling crease) relies on fluid, uninterrupted acceleration rather than staccato steps. Coming back after a two-month layoff, my body was just recalibrating its stride lengths. In this match, it all felt completely natural again.

“I told myself to forget the outcome and just run in with a good, natural rhythm. The moment I did that, the old Siraj was back in action, and the ball started coming out beautifully,” he said.

Siraj was also fortunate to share some time with his old partner Mohammed Shami, who was playing for East Zone in the Duleep Trophy final.

While Siraj termed it a casual chat session, Shami gave a bit more insight into their conversation.

“Whenever I interact with guys I’ve played with or share a good bond with, I focus on their skill. In the first innings, Siraj wasn’t quite finding his natural rhythm.

“I just reminded him that to get back on top, he needed to return to his core strengths. When your run-up and rhythm are in sync, your line and length fall into place automatically,” said Shami.

Now, Indian management will hope that Siraj will carry forward his in-sync body and mind to New Zealand as well. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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Chelsea striker Joao Pedro (£7.7m) is the most-owned player in the game, in 72.5% of sides. Given that Chelsea have scored eight goals already this season, and face promoted Hull City at home next, it feels like the right time to be moving towards a double up on their assets.

Cole Palmer (£9.6m) and Morgan Rogers (£7.6m) came on as half-time substitutes in the Carabao Cup against Leeds United on Wednesday, with Palmer scoring a double including a penalty, and Rogers chalking up three assists.

Palmer has the edge, if you can afford him, given his greater goal threat and penalties.

If you are wildcarding this week, you could also consider a triple-up, but having three attacking players from the same team means they need to score two-plus goals every game to make it worth it.

Nigeria’s U20 women’s national team, the Falconets, played out a 0-0 draw against China PR in their second Group F match at the 2026 FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup in Poland on Thursday.

The match was played at the Arena Sosnowiec, with both teams creating chances but failing to find the net.

The Falconets started brightly and had their first clear chance in the 17th minute through Janet Akekoromowei.

Nigeria continued to grow into the game, with Kafayat Mafisere winning a corner in the 33rd minute, while Akekoromowei came close again in the 38th minute and during added time.

China also threatened before the break, but goalkeeper Christiana Uzoma and the Nigerian defence stood firm to keep the game level at half-time.

China made a change at the start of the second half, bringing on Chen Ruilin for Xiao Yafei. The substitution gave the Asian side more attacking energy as Chen, Xue Sifan and Huang Jiaxin all tested Nigeria’s defence.

The Falconets also pushed for the opener, with Precious Oscar, Queen Joseph and Mafisere coming close.

Nigeria thought they had been given a penalty in the 74th minute, but the decision was overturned following a VAR review.

Neither side could find a winning goal as the match ended 0-0.

The result gives Nigeria one point from two Group F matches.

Coach Moses Aduku’s side will now face New Caledonia in their final group match on Sunday, September 13, in Łódź, with qualification for the knockout rounds still possible.