Tag: football

  • Guide to depositing on Nigerian sportsbooks

    Guide to depositing on Nigerian sportsbooks

    Nigeria is one of the top three countries with the most lucrative sports betting markets in Africa. As expected, the jurisdiction will be home to several sportsbooks accepting bets from punters. So, you are spoilt for choice when betting on sports online in Nigeria. However, it is essential that you only wager at legitimate and trustworthy sites with a lot of betting markets.

    After signing up at your chosen sportsbook, the next thing you would want to do is to fund your betting account. Without money in it, you won’t be able to wager on any market on the sportsbook. The aim of this article is to help make this straightforward process more easily understandable. Here, you will learn exactly how to make a deposit on bet9ja. 

    Visit the Cashier Section of Your Site

    After creating an account on your preferred site, head over to the cashier section on the platform. You will find the tab labelled as “deposit” on some sportsbooks. Irrespective of the name, they perform the same function. Click the tab, and it will take you to a page where you can select from a list of accepted payment methods. Most bookies offer traditional methods, e-wallets, bank transfers and other viable means. Irrespective of the banking option you use, you can be sure that it has been vetted by the sportsbook and is safe to use.

    Input your Amount

    Once you have seen the option you want and click it, you will be asked to input the amount you wish to deposit. At this stage, depending on the casino, you may also be asked to fill a promo code into the required field to claim a bonus.

    When you make your payment, the sportsbook will instantly credit your account with the funds and may also top it with the sign-up bonus. That’s all there is to it! You can now start wagering on the sportsbook.

    Having a knowledge of how to deposit at sportsbooks is only enough if you want to be an average bettor. But if you aim to be exceptional, then you will want to know how to use deposits to your advantage at the casino. Our tips below will prove very helpful:

    Deposit Hacks for Online Sportsbooks

    Wager only at a licensed and reputable sportsbook; This is the first tip to keep in mind before you patronize a sportsbook. Go for recommended sites with a license and a positive reputation.

    Understand differences in deposit methods; The deposit options at a sportsbook may perform the same functions but are usually different, mainly in terms of speed and additional charges. While some options are instant, others may take some minutes to process. Also, some methods might require you to pay extra charges to use their platform for depositing in your sportsbook account.

    Bonus qualifying options; Not all banking options qualify you for the welcome bonus or other types of bonuses available at a sportsbook. However, bookies make it easier by stating the payment methods you need to deposit with to claim an offer.

  • Why Bitcoin is a perfect fit for football betting

    Football stands as the biggest sport that a lot of punters would love to enjoy betting on. This is because it has a lot of betting markets that you can find in various sports betting platforms.

    With a lot of football games to look out for every single year, it is easy to expect that there will always be a lot of fans who are keen to bet on these games. From the local leagues that you can watch near your home all the way to the crowded stadiums that a lot of fans watch, football never grows old.

    Every top crypto betting website has football games available to bet on, which only shows that football is clearly the sport loved by the masses. The sheer demand of having a lot of football markets to bet on only means that there is always a lot to expect from these games.

    The continuous growth in technology has led to a lot of new advancements over the years. It has made life simpler than most people think, and the creation of crypto clearly made most of the payments easier, especially with a lot of fast transactions compared to fiat.

    Bitcoin betting is a norm now, and football just seems to be the top sport to look out for if you are aiming to win big prizes in the long run. This is why it is one of the most popular picks for punters who also use Bitcoin nowadays.

    Bitcoin is an optimal crypto

    There are a lot of benefits in using Bitcoin for betting to begin with. This includes the seamless transactions that a lot of people have been craving for in fiat currencies. Bitcoin’s fast and smooth process led to the rise in the number of users who now use the crypto in placing their wagers on the biggest football games out there.

    On top of that, Bitcoin has been a popular pick among many punters due to the fact that it is reliable in terms of the perks that punters can get if they use Bitcoin to make a deposit on the site. Having bonuses to use in sports betting sessions and even casino gaming can be a huge way to ensure bigger winnings as well.

    Bitcoin’s safety also has something to do with the way it is loved by the masses.The safety provided by Bitcoin’s system – the blockchain – makes it easy to trust. The system is almost impossible to hack, making it one of the most secure currencies that will put fiat into shame as well.

    With Bitcoin’s prominence all over the world taking a huge leap, it is easy to say that it is slowly starting to be common among many people who are starting to switch to crypto. Reliance on crypto is the new normal for most investors today, which only proves that Bitcoin is indeed on the rise.

    Some football clubs are already partnered up with crypto sites

    There are a lot of football teams that have managed to stir up some connections to various sports betting sites that take pride in using crypto as their main payment options. For starters, the English Premier League alone has a total of nine gambling companies as sponsors for various teams. Other industries who have sponsored teams are financial services, airlines, car retailers, software companies and so on.

    Teams such as Brentford, Burnley, Newcastle and West Ham have gambling companies as their sponsors. However, only Southampton (sponsored by Sportsbet.io) and Watford (sponsored by Stake.com) are the only two clubs that have crypto sites as their sponsors, and having crypto means the ensured presence of Bitcoin as well.

    This only proves that Bitcoin has emerged as one of the leading crypto to use in betting since gambling companies still remain a top pick for most Prem clubs as their partners for shirt sponsorships. Even if they do not have a shirt sponsor, all clubs have their respective gambling partners, which only says a lot about the prominence of each crypto betting site.

    That shows why Bitcoin’s future with football betting is going to be seen for more years to come. Punters are starting to put Bitcoin as their first option in betting, which only means that the coin might actually thrive as one of the most used currencies in placing sports wagers.

  • Top 5 most followed sports in Nigeria

    Nigeria has the highest population in Africa and is the seventh most populous country globally. The country has a rich culture, and sport is an integral aspect of their way of life.

    The love for sport knows no bounds in Nigeria. From following their domestic teams in Nigeria to supporting foreign clubs, especially in the British premier league, sports is a huge activity in Nigeria.

    Another way Nigerians express their passion for sport is by wagering on their favorite teams at online sportsbooks. Bet9ja soccer betting is one of the popular options chosen by punters in the country.

    This guide will show you Nigeria’s top five most popular and followed sports.

    Football

    Football is the most popular sport in the country. This sport was introduced to Nigeria in the British colonial era and has gained widespread popularity since then. The passion Nigerians have for football can be seen in the number of football teams available in the country. Virtually every area has a football team, and then there are still a lot of unregistered clubs formulated by young people passionate about this sport.

    Nigeria’s national team, known as the Super Eagles, has qualified six times for the world championship, and this team has given the country some of its most notable sporting moments.

    Apart from being one of the most followed sports in Nigeria, the thrill, fun, and entertainment football brings for Nigerians is also amazing. In addition, it has also provided a platform for having some extra fun by placing bets on the matches, and Nigerians are heavy on betting.

    Basketball

    Nigeria has been involved in basketball for a long time, and in 1964, the country’s national team became a part of the International Basketball Federation (FIBA). The highest tier of men’s professional basketball in Nigeria is the Nigerian Premier Basketball League (NFP).

    This sport gained high interest in the 1990s when Hakeem Olajuwon became a superstar in the NBA. Since then, there have been many exploits by the male and female national teams, and now Nigeria has become one of the top basketball nations in Africa.

    Boxing

    Over the years, Nigeria has produced a long list of great, professional top-class boxers, including Nojim Maiyegun, Bash Ali, Samuel Peter, Hogan Bassey, and Dick Tiger. Currently, there are more than 300 professional boxers in Nigeria.

    Boxing kicked off professionally in Nigeria in 1947, and it is currently one of the most followed sports by fans in the country. Boxing is also a very productive sport for Nigeria at the Olympics, and the country has bagged up to six medals at the quadrennial event. The recent rise of Anthony Joshua, the successful British fighter of Nigerian descent, also shed more light on the sport in Nigeria.

    Athletics

    Nigeria’s track and field athletes have provided the country with a long history of excellence and success in global and national sports events, including the Olympics. Likewise, athletics has provided many notable moments for sports fans in Nigeria, and over the years, the skilled athletes have, on different occasions, won both bronze and gold medals.

    Table Tennis

    Table tennis is also one of Nigeria’s most followed and popular sports. Many Nigerians love and play the game in different parts of the country. You can find a ping pong table in almost all recreational centers and sports complexes, and those that can’t access a proper setup can always use available resources to set up and enjoy the sport.

    Nigeria is blessed with many notable, world-class, and professional table tennis players, including Funke Oshonaiki, Segun Toriola, Aruna Quadri, etc.

    These top 5 sports have come a long way in providing a vast means of fun and entertainment for many Nigerians. Also, apart from watching the sports, many young kids and adults gather around to play them, and it is an excellent way for people to bond with one another.

  • Football super agent, Mino Raiola confirmed dead

    Football super agent, Mino Raiola confirmed dead

    Mino Raiola, the agent who represented some of football’s most high-profile players, has died at the age of 54.

    The Dutch-Italian’s stable of players included Borussia Dortmund striker Erling Haaland, Manchester United midfielder Paul Pogba and AC Milan forward Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

    Raiola was also president of the Football Forum, which represented leading agents and their players.

    “His presence will be forever missed,” the Raiola family said in a statement.

    It read: “In infinite sorrow, we share the passing of the most caring and amazing football agent that ever was.

    “Mino fought until the end with the same strength he put on negotiation tables to defend our players. As usual, Mino made us proud and never realised it.

    “Mino touched so many lives through his work and wrote a new chapter in the history of modern football.”

    The statement added: “Mino’s mission of making football a better place for players will continue with the same passion.

    “We thank everybody for the huge amount of support received during these difficult times and ask for respect to the privacy of family and friends in this moment of grief.”

    Raiola, who also represented Belgium striker Romelu Lukaku, Italy forward Mario Balotelli and Netherlands centre-back Matthijs de Ligt, was a controversial and influential figure in world football.

    He had been involved run-ins with a series of managers, including former Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson, Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola and Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp, but told BBC sports editor Dan Roan in 2021 that he had learned lessons from situations he had been involved in.

    There were claims that Raiola earned £41m from Pogba’s world-record £89m transfer from Juventus to Manchester United in 2016 and, while that intensified criticism of agents, Raiola insisted the perception of greed and excess was unfair.

    “It’s not nice always to hear this same preconception,” Raiola said last year.

    “But maybe the public can also think: ‘If this man is so greedy and so bad, how are his players all happy and stay with him?’

    “I would be lying if I said it didn’t bother me… how can you judge if I was a good agent for Ibrahimovic? The only one who can judge that is Ibra himself.

    “I don’t have power and influence… my job is to get the best deal done for my player. And no more than that. And doing that is to provide him with a whole range of services that people don’t even know.

    “My players don’t call me a parasite, and that’s who I work for. I only care what my players call me.”

    Raiola had also spoken of his opposition to Fifa – world football’s governing body – bringing in new regulations for agents.

    BBC

  • UPDATED: Football super agent, Mino Raiola is not dead

    UPDATED: Football super agent, Mino Raiola is not dead

    Football super-agent, Mino Raiola is ‘critically ill’ in a Milan hospital, he’s not dead as earlier reported.

    Raiola was hospitalised on Thursday and widespread reports in Italy claimed he had died, but Alberto Zangrillo, head of the Intensive Care Unit at San Raffaele Hospital, told Italian news agency ANSA: “I am outraged by phone calls from so-called journalists speculating on the life of a man who is fighting.”

    The Italian, who also manages the likes of Gianluigi Donnarumma, Marco Verratti and Matthijs de Ligt, has been behind some of football’s biggest transfers in recent years, including Pogba’s return to Manchester United in 2016 for a then world-record £93m.

    A tweet from Raiola’s account on Thursday read: “Current health status for the ones wondering: p****d off second time in 4 months they kill me. Seem also able to ressuscitate.”

  • Messi will never reach my father’s level – Maradona Jr

    Messi will never reach my father’s level – Maradona Jr

    Diego Maradona Jr believes Paris Saint-Germain star, Lionel Messi will never reach his father’s level in football history.

    He insists there are no comparisons between his father and Messi.

    Both played for Barcelona and the comparison is one that has been made frequently, particularly in their home country of Argentina.

    “I have a huge appreciation for him [referring to Messi], I think he is the best of his time, not the best ever,” Diego Jr told Radio del Plata.

    “I think that nobody will ever reach my father.”

    That doesn’t mean that he isn’t a fan of Messi, and he spoke positively of his achievements.

    “I was very happy when he managed to win the Copa America with the national team, so many people shut their mouths,” he continued.

    “We are difficult because we had Messi and for a lot of years we didn’t know how to enjoy him.

    “My old man is above everyone else. Messi is the best in the history of humans, my old man wasn’t human playing football.”

  • Infantino to seek third term as FIFA president

    Infantino to seek third term as FIFA president

    Gianni Infantino will seek a third term as FIFA president next year, he told the congress of the global football governing body in Doha on Thursday.

    “Because we are all united here and the members of FIFA are here, I wanted to tell you first,” he said.

    Infantino, 52, was first elected in 2016 to succeed disgraced former president Joseph Blatter and was re-elected in 2019.

    He was previously head of European confederation UEFA.

  • Everyone needs to let Eriksen play football – Brentford coach

    Everyone needs to let Eriksen play football – Brentford coach

    Brentford boss Thomas Frank believes Christian Eriksen must be allowed to get on with his game.

    The Danish international, who suffered a cardiac arrest on the pitch last summer at Euro 2020, got a standing ovation from everyone when he came on in the 52nd minute against Newcastle, a game they lost 2-0.

    While Frank understands why fans reacted so positively to Eriksen coming onto the pitch, he believes they should now treat him as any other player in the squad.

    Frank said: “I completely understand the circumstances which make Christian coming back to football a really big event.

    “But now he has played his first game, he really wants to just speak about football and less about what happened in June.

    “He wants to be treated like a normal football player — even though we know he will never be a normal football player because of what happened to him.

    “For everyone involved in football, it was a big moment. It was fantastic to see the reception he received and it was a big moment for Christian and his family.

    “Now he should only talk with his feet and speak about football instead of everything else.”

  • Britain Bars Chelsea’s Russian  Owner Roman Abramovich From UK

    Britain Bars Chelsea’s Russian Owner Roman Abramovich From UK

    Chelsea’s Russian owner Roman Abramovich is reported to have been effectively barred from living in Britain ever again.

    The billionaire has not been seen at his Premier League football club’s south-west London home, Stamford Bridge, for months.

    He withdrew his application for a British Tier 1 investor visa in 2018, after reported delays in his application following criticism of Russian oligarchs in the wake of the Salisbury poisonings.

    According to The Sun, senior security sources now say it is unlikely that the 55-year-old will ever be allowed to live in Britain again.

    Immigration officials are reportedly under instructions to make it impossible for Mr Abramovich – who owns a £125million mansion near Kensington Palace – to base himself in the UK.

    His case is said to be being handled by the Home Office’s ‘Special Cases Unit’.

    It comes after Mr Abramovich was named by MPs on Tuesday as being one of 35 oligarchs identified by Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny as one of the ‘key enablers’ of the ‘kleptocracy’ run by the country’s president Vladimir Putin.

    He vehemently denies he is close to the Kremlin or has done anything that would merit sanctions being imposed against him – as Britain looked to impose sanctions on Russia amid rising tensions with Ukraine.

    In 2018 Mr Abramovich became an Israeli citizen, allowing him to enter for Britain for up to six months.

    He used his Israeli passport last October to make a short trip to London.

    However, a senior source told The Sun that any attempt by the oligarch to apply for a permanent visa would ‘almost certainly be rejected’.

    Mr Abramovich has an estimated wealth of £8.4billion.

    As well as his huge property portfolio, he also owns a series of superyachts, including the £450million Solaris, which has a missile detection system.

    Mr Abramovich has never held UK citizenship and made his money selling assets purchased from the state when the Soviet Union broke up.

    He arrived at Chelsea in 2003 and transformed the team from outside challengers to a Premier League giant with the help of Jose Mourinho.

    The bulk of Abramovich’s UK wealth is to be found in Evraz, a steel and mining giant listed on the London stock market.

    In the Commons on Tuesday, Liberal Democrat MP Layla Moran read out a list that featured Mr Abramovich’s name alongside other oligarchs including Arsenal investor Alisher Usmanov.

  • EPL : Jurgen Klopp warns Pep Guardiola over title race

    EPL : Jurgen Klopp warns Pep Guardiola over title race

    Liverpool manager, Jurgen Klopp has warned that his Manchester City counterpart, Pep Guardiola will push them to the limit in the Premier League race.

    The German also said the title race will be decided in March and April.

    Klopp’s men will go three points behind league leaders City with victory over Leeds United at Anfield on Wednesday.

    A run of eight consecutive wins has seen the Reds get to within touching distance of Guardiola’s men in the league, reach the Carabao Cup final and take a big step towards the Champions League quarter-finals.

    Liverpool manager, Jurgen Klopp has warned that his Manchester City counterpart, Pep Guardiola will push them to the limit in the Premier League race.

    The German also said the title race will be decided in March and April.

    Klopp’s men will go three points behind league leaders City with victory over Leeds United at Anfield on Wednesday.

    A run of eight consecutive wins has seen the Reds get to within touching distance of Guardiola’s men in the league, reach the Carabao Cup final and take a big step towards the Champions League quarter-finals.

    When asked about the title race at a news conference on Tuesday, Klopp replied: “First and foremost, it’s important that we are close to the top whoever is at the top because that shows that some things are going in the right direction.

    “In the last four seasons — we were not around one year because of our problems and we had some struggles — but before it was an insane race. Both teams are able to do some special stuff, I have to say with all respect [because] what City is doing is incredible.

    “I think we are pushing each other as well, not only us because I don’t forget the other teams like Chelsea, [Manchester] United, Arsenal and Tottenham. But, we are pushing each other and that’s how it is and it keeps you going. There is no chance to get a bit soft because the other one will be there immediately to catch you.

    “I think what Pep said that we are the pain in the lower back, that’s a good description and that’s how it should be. We try to be as annoying as somehow possible until we have a chance to overtake, but I don’t know when that will be or if that will be the case but what I always said is that we have the decisive moments of the season but it’s not now in February, it’s March and April.”