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2020: A sporting year of empty stands, mix blessings amid COVID-19

SPORTS

From the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic in March to the death of sporting legends including Diego Maradona, Ronaldo’s 750-goal mark, AJ’s successful title defence, the year 2020 will forever remain indelible in the minds of the sports faithful, write ’TOSIN OLUWALOWO and KELVIN EKERETE in this end of year report

The beginning of the year 2020 looked like any other, with undividual athletes and teams setting their goals and targets.

The future looked bright and the sports world was in ecstatic mood: fans looked forward to watching their top stars and teams perform and set records at the highest level as well.

All the dreams and hopes were however shattered in early March, as nations and economies gradually shut down following the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic globally.

Sports events postponed/cancelled

Sporting activities weren’t exempted either, as the football leagues, which were in action then, one after the other, were brought to a halt, to the bewilderment of the global audience.

Arsenal manager, Mikel Arteta, became the first person in the English Premier League to contract the virus, which led to the suspension of the English Premier League on March 13, for three months.

Back home, the Nigeria Professional Football League was also suspended after match-day 25, with the Nigeria Football Federation also suspending football activities nationwide. The league was eventually cancelled in August with Points Per Game format used to determine league positions.

In sports generally, organisers of the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan also shifted the global sports showpiece event to 2021 as COVID-19 wreaked havoc on the sports world.

On the continent, the Confederation of Africa Football postponed the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations and the 2020 Africa Nations Championships and cancelled the Africa Women’s Cup of Nations.

An angry Super Falcons captain Asisat Oshoala couldn’t hide her bitterness on social media after the women’s football event was cancelled  “thanked” CAF for making the world realise that female football is not important in Africa.

“Other competitions POSTPONED but AWCON “CANCELLED” thank you once again for making us realize women’s football isn’t important to you.

“Congratulations on dragging us back AGAIN. Adios to all the women National teams in Africa. See y’all in 2022 #PrioritizeWomensFootball #NoExcuse,” the Barcelona striker wrote on Twitter.

It was a similar tale of agony for Oshoala’s fellow athletes back home as the Federal Government also called off the National Sports Festival tagged Edo 2020 scheduled for March in Benin City. The event has suffered several postponements ever since, with the new February 14 to 28, 2021 looking unlikely following the second wave of the pandemic in the country.

Maradona, Kobe pass away

The cold hands of death didn’t spare some of the world’s most notable sports personalities either.

The death of Diego Maradona, 60, on November 25 brought the world to a standstill and caused a wave of grief in his adopted home of Naples. He brought joy to the southern Italian city by leading unfashionable Napoli to two Serie A titles and the 1989 UEFA Cup.

“Today (Nov 25) is an unbelievably sad day. Our Diego left us. Our hearts – of all of us who loved him for how he was, and for what he represented – have stopped beating for a moment. Our silence, our tears, our pain is the only thing we are feeling deep inside us at this time,” FIFA boss Gianni Infantino told FIFA’s official website:

The passing of Maradona, who led Argentina to glory at the 1986 World Cup, where he scored the ‘Goal of the Century’ against England — as well as the infamous ‘Hand of God’ goal, led to three days of national mourning in his home country.

Earlier, basketball megastar Kobe Bryant, 41, was killed in January alongside his 13-year-old daughter in a helicopter crash outside Los Angeles that also took the lives of seven other people.

LA Lakers icon Bryant was a five-time NBA champion in a career that began in 1996 straight out of a high school. He was a two-time Olympic gold medallist, helping spark the US squad to titles in 2008 and 2012.

Another notable star who passed on in the year is Paolo Rossi, a national hero in Italy, who fired the Azzurri to World Cup triumph in 1982, finishing the tournament as top scorer with six goals, including a hat-trick in the 3-2 win over Brazil.

Other fallen sports heroes in 2020 were Nobby Stiles, described as the “heart and soul” of England’s 1966 World Cup-winning team; Angela Buxton, two-time Grand Slam champion, who died at 85; Silas Nkanunu, 87, popularly called the ‘Mandela’ of South African rugby; the 90-year-old Stirling Moss, widely regarded as the greatest driver never to win the Formula One world championship and Gerard Houllier, the 73-year-old Frenchman who put Liverpool back on track to domestic and European glory as manager from 1998 to 2004, winning a treble of trophies in 2001 and paving the way for the long-term recovery of a club he cherished.

Football returns without fans

Football in Germany became the first to resume on May 16, after several months of inactivity. Other sporting activities also had fans barred from venues as part of efforts to curb the spread of COVID-19.

Ronaldo, Messi lead again

It wasn’t a completely bleak year for sports globally as some of the major actors churned out some amazing performances, to the admiration of their fans.

Juventus superstar, Cristiano Ronaldo, moved closer to becoming one of the world top goal scorers after netting his 750th goal for club and country in Juventus’ 3-0 win over Dynamo Kyiv in the UEFA Champions League in Turin in December.

The goal scored puts him fourth on the list of the world’s top scorers with over 750 goals from over 1030 games. He is currently behind Pele (767 goals in 831 games – 1957-1977), Romario (72 goals 994 games – 1985-2007) and Josef Bican (805+ goals in 530+ games – 1931-1956).

The Juventus forward was also named the Player of the Century at the Globe Soccer Awards in Dubai.

Ronaldo’s rival Lionel Messi, was not left out of the news either, as he broke Brazil legend Pele’s record 0f 643 goals for a single club after scoring his 644th in Bacelona’s 3-0 win over Villadolid on December 22.

Pele, widely considered one of the greatest footballers of all time, scored 643 goals for Brazilian club Santos between 1956 and 1974.

Messi in June 2020 became the seventh player to score over 700 career goals for club and country. Others are – Josef Bican (805 goals), Romario (772), Pelé (767), Ferenc Puskas (746), Gerd Muller (735) and Cristiano Ronaldo (754+).

Young striker Victor Osimhen put Nigeria in the limelight as he became the most expensive African footballer ever, after joining Italian Serie A side Napoli on a five-year deal worth €81m plus add-ons July 31.

The move eclipsed the Africa record of €80m set by Arsenal forward Nicolas Pepe after joining from Lille the previous summer.

The 22-year-old was in great form in his solitary campaign in the French Ligue 1 with Lille, scoring 18 goals in the 2019/20 season.

 Reds win EPL after 29 years

English Premier League side Liverpool won their first Premier League title in 2020, ending a 30-year wait as English champions. Jurgen Klopp’s team won the league with seven games to spare beating the record for winning a title with five matches to spare, which was jointly held by Manchester United in 2000/01, and Man City’s 2017/18 side.

Bayern thrash Barca

Bayern Munich ended Barcelona’s hopes of winning the 2019/20 UEFA Champions League thrashing the Spanish giants 8-2 in a one-leg quarter-final fixture played at the Estadio da Luz in Lisbon.

The loss is Barcelona’s heaviest defeat since 1951, it was also the first time they had conceded eight goals in a game since 1946, when they lost 8–0 to Sevilla in the 1946 Copa del Generalísimo.

The defeat led to the sacking of manager Quique Setién.

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Messi, Barca rift

Barcelona talisman and all-time top scorer Lionel Messi rumoured move away from the Catalunya club after their disappointing exit from the 2019/20 UEFA Champions League will surely go down as one of the major highlights of the year.

The Spanish giants had experienced frustrating results before and after the coronavirus pandemic and on the back of their 8-2 humiliation by Bayern Munich, the Argentine star threatened to leave the club.

After several talks between the club, lawyers and the player he decided to stay back but with the warning that he will leave when his contract expires next summer if there isn’t a major restructuring behind the scene.

Spain humiliate Germany

Spain showed their dominance over the German men’s national team with a 6-0 annihilation of the 2014 World champions  in a 2021 UEFA nations League in Seville on November 17, 2020.

The loss is Germany’s biggest defeat in an official match.

Eagles disappoint, Falcons inactive

The Super Eagles ended the year without winning a single game in four matches: three draws and one defeat.

They drew the ire of the country’s football-crazy fans after losing a four-goal lead to draw 4-4 versus Sierra Leone in a 2021 AFCON qualifier at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium, Benin City. The Nigeria national team also dropped in the FIFA Ranking as the year ended, finishing 35th in the world and the fifth ranked country in Africa, having started the year ranked 31st globally and third on the continent.

It was worse for record African champions Super Falcons, who didn’t kick a ball in the outgoing year despite appointing American Randy Waldrum  as coach of the women’s national team.

Ahmad banned, Pinnick drops CAF ambition

World football governing body, FIFA, banned CAF President Ahmad Ahmad for five years after the Madagascan official was found guilty of corruption. FIFA announced Ahmad’s ban on November 23. Earlier, NFF president Amaju Pinnick, who was highly favoured to succeed Ahmad, had stepped down for South African businessman Patrice Motispe in the race for the continent’s top football job, preferring to run for a seat in the FIFA Council next year.

Oshonaike equals Toriola’s record

Veteran table tennis star, Funke Oshonaike, 45, made history when she became the first African woman to qualify for seven Olympic Games, after booking her place at the 2020 edition in Tokyo. She joins compatriot Segun Toriola as the only other African to make it to seven editions of the global showpiece.

Oshonaike first qualified for the Olympics in 1996 at Atlanta, USA.

Eight Nigerians in NBA Draft

A record eight players of Nigerian descent were drafted into the NBA on November 2020.

Six of the players – Isaac Okoro, Onyeka Okongwu, Precious Achiuwa, Zeke Nnaji, Udoka Azubuike and Desmond Bane – were selected in the first round, while Daniel Oturu and Jordan Nwora were chosen in the second round.

This is the first time Nigeria will be having eight players in the draft. The previous record was in the 2017 draft, where five Nigerians – Bam Adebayo (14), OG Anunoby (23), Wesley Iwundu (33), Semi Ojeleye (37) and Ike Anigbogu (47) were picked.

It’s also the first time two players born in Nigeria – Precious Achiuwa and Udoka Azubuike – would be selected in the first round.

D’Tigers win

Also, D’Tigers, the men’s basketball team, ended the year on a strong note, winning all three games under new coach Mike Brown in the second window of the 2021 Afrobasket qualifiers in Rwanda despite the absence of top NBA players on their roster.

Ministry, AFN in supremacy battle

Athletics Federation of Nigeria boss Shehu Gusau dragged the sports ministry to the Federal High Court in Abuja, following a leadership tussle, with the court ruling July 1 that he remained the AFN president.

The Appeal Court also affirmed the High Court ruling, throwing out the sports ministry’s appeal for lacking merit September 25.

Joshua pummels Pulev

Two-time unified world heavyweight champion, Anthony Joshua, retained his WBA (Super), IBF, WBO, and IBO titles with a ninth round knockout of Bulgarian, Kubrat Pulev at the SSE Arena,Wembley in the presence of 1,000 fans.

The fight was Joshua’s only bout of the year. He is billed to face Tyson Fury in 2021.

Adesanya, Usman retain world titles

Mixed Martial Arts duo, Kamaru Usman and Israel Adesanya, retained their Ultimate Fighting Championships titles in 2020. Both MMA stars became world champions in the middleweight and welterweight divisions in 2019 with wins over Tyron Woodley and Robert Whittaker respectively.

Usman had just one fight in 2020 against Jorge Masvidal, defeating the American in a unanimous victory win in July in Abu Dhabi while Adesanya had two title defences against Yoel Romero in March and a second round knockout win over Brazilian Paulo Costa in one of the fights regarded as the best UFC fight of 2020.

Fury knocks out Wilder

Tyson Fury knocked out Deontay Wilder in the seventh round of their world title bout to win the WBC title at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, Nevada dethroning Wilder, who had held the title for five years after his unanimous victory win over Canada’s Bermane Stiverne in 2015.

The fight was their second after the first meeting in 2019 ended in a draw, a fight that was widely considered to have been won by Fury.

Hamilton equals Schumacher’s record

British superstar Lewis Hamilton wrote his name in the Formula One record books with a victory in the Turkish Grand Prix, securing his seventh world championship title and equalling Michael Schumacher’s record.

The Mercedes driver said after the win, “That’s for all the kids out there who dream the impossible, you can do it.”

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