International Football
My encounter with Grandmaster, Fabio Lanipekun
BY KUNLE SOLAJA.
Within a space of eight days, I lost my two mentors in sports journalism. First it was Sunny Ojeagbase who died penultimate Saturday in the US. Then this last Sunday, Fabio Lanipekun took his last breath.
Both were the two parishioners who shaped me in thought and in practice.
At first, it was like re-enacting the popular photo magazine – Sadness and Joy – of my youthful days. Last Monday I got the sad news of the death of Ojeagbase but two days later, it was the joy that my other iconic mentor, Fabio Lanipekun was going to clock the milestone of 80.
Now, both are gone. I had followed Fabio for years even before I had personal contact with him. He was then a sports presenter at the WNTV in Ibadan.
At the time, he was presenting Star Soccer, a package of English football, Sports Round up and Sports Galore on Saturday.
With his afro hairstyle and smiles on his face, he would always sign off the programme with the phrase: “Am backing sports all the way, what about you?” That was in the early 1970s. I developed a magnetic interest in him as I watched his presentations.
I did not get to meet him in person until the summer of 1986 when we met in St. Johns, New Found land in Canada when we both covered the second edition of the FIFA under 16 Tournament.
He was there with Charles Ojugbana, while I represented the African Concord magazine. I had a first hand knowledge of my childhood hero.
He was humane and hardworking. He had the nose for details. He thought me not to always adapt the often bias of the western press in sports coverage. It was like going back to the classroom.
We were again together at the Italia ‘90 World Cup, the first of the now eight coverage of the most coveted football trophy on Planet Earth. Of course, I drank satisfactorily from his well of wisdom.
Almost like a guarding angel, he was with me at the Barcelona ‘92 Olympics, my first coverage of what is popularly believed to be the ‘Greatest Show on Earth.’
Even though I never worked under him, I am qualified to be called a student of Fabio Lanipekun. It was not therefore a surprise that when I became the Group Sports Editor of Concord Press of Nigeria in August 1989, he would always admonish me when he spotted errors in my pages.
Of course, I got accolades too, when he felt impressed of any write-up especially if it was a product of either historical recall or research.
It was in the course of such research that I once asked him how he came about the name Fabio, which I knew was Italian and that Nigeria had no link with Italy to make us adopt their names.
He told me that the name was actually a nickname that stuck. His real name was Adesola Lanipekun.
According to him, while at Methodist Boys High School in Lagos, he read an 1886 romance book titled “Vendetta”. It was a story of a forgotten fellow, Fabio Romani, an Italian count who was thought to be dead. The novel was written by Mary Corelli.
Lanipekun said he was fascinated by the central figure of the novel, Fabio Romani. “I enjoyed the book that I started calling myself ‘Fabio”.
That was the origin of the nickname that has over seven decades become his name. He remarked that his parents initially objected to it each time school friends came to ask after ‘Fabio’. But somehow, it has stuck.
He began his journalism career in 1962 at the now defunct Daily Express in Lagos before travelling abroad in 1964 to study Sports Journalism at the Regent Street Polytechnic in London.
He is one of the earliest Nigerian media practitioners to train specifically in sports journalism. He joined the Western Nigeria Television (WNTV) on February 17, 1969. On May 18, 1969 he had his first coverage of a football match for the WNTV when he ran commentaries of the Ghana versus Nigeria World Cup qualifying match in Accra.
According to him, sports were placed under the programmes department at the WNTV which is today’s NTA Ibadan.
The department was geared towards entertainment and featured sports at irregular intervals and mostly on weekly basis.
Among the three sports programmes was “Star Soccer”. The two others were “Wrestling from Britain” and “Sports Review”.
But a survey conducted among viewers in Lagos and the then Western State (now Oyo, Ogun, Ondo, Osun and Ekiti states) places sports as fourth among the 20 programmes analysed.
According to Lanipekun, that enabled the creation of another slot to sports which increased his contributions to the station.
He rose to the position of Manager, Sports at the NTA before retiring in 1994. May his soul rest in peace.
International Football
Players’ union, FIFPRO, wants 20-minute halftimes, more cooling breaks amid extreme heat
Global players’ union FIFPRO is exploring whether extending halftime to 20 minutes and introducing more frequent cooling breaks could better protect players from extreme heat.
Nine of the 16 host cities for the 2026 World Cup face conditions considered “extreme risk” for heat-related illness.
Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Guadalajara, Houston, Kansas City, Miami, Monterrey and Philadelphia are expected to face dangerous levels of heat and humidity, posing player safety concerns and fuelling calls for mandatory cooling aids or schedule changes.
FIFPRO’s heat risk assessments are based on wet bulb globe temperature (WBGT), a measure combining temperature, humidity, solar radiation and wind speed to estimate how environmental conditions affect the body’s ability to cool itself.
Under FIFPRO guidelines, a WBGT reading above 28 degrees Celsius indicates conditions in which matches should be postponed or rescheduled to protect players’ health.
By comparison, world soccer governing body FIFA’s own guidelines set the extreme risk threshold higher, at 32 degrees Celsius WBGT – but even by that standard, six of the nine cities are still projected to exceed safe limits.
Major League Soccer in the U.S. has a threshold of 29 degrees Celsius WBGT.
“Cooling breaks at the 30th minute and 75th minutes are quite traditional, but from a physiological point of view it does not make sense,” said Vincent Gouttebarge, FIFPRO’s Medical Director.
“Even if you ingest more than 200 millilitres of fluid, you already cannot take it all. So I would definitely like to see some project where we look at the efficacy of perhaps more frequent but shorter cooling breaks – every 15 minutes, rather than only one during each half.”
LONGER HALFTIMES
Gouttebarge also questioned whether the traditional 15-minute halftime interval is sufficient when matches are played in extreme heat.
“You can imagine that halftime of 15 minutes might not be enough in order to decrease the core temperature,” he said.
“It could be a halftime of 20 minutes which would be significant. That has been shown in the laboratory and FIFPRO, together with the national union in Portugal in August, we are going to test this kind of mitigation strategy.”
The urgency of stronger heat protocols became clear at this month’s Club World Cup where two matches — Benfica-Bayern Munich in Charlotte and Chelsea-Esperance in Philadelphia exceeded the WBGT threshold FIFPRO considers unsafe.
“According to our position, those games should have been postponed later that day or rescheduled,” Gouttebarge said.
FIFPRO officials acknowledged that FIFA has responded constructively during the tournament by lowering thresholds for mandatory cooling breaks and improving pitch-side hydration, but stressed that proactive planning is critical.
“FIFA have been quite responsive once the tournament was under way,” said Alex Phillips, FIFPRO General Secretary.
“They have actually modified how they’ve been dealing with heat during the matches based on FIFPRO’s input, which is credit to the work of the team. Obviously, it would have been better if that happened in advance, but it’s better that they have adapted.”
FIFPRO warned that the risks highlighted at the Club World Cup are a preview of what players could face at the expanded 2026 World Cup.
“This is not just affecting the Club World Cup, but also future tournaments either in the U.S. or elsewhere in the world,” said Alexander Bielefeld, FIFPRO Director of Policy & Strategic Relations.
“We need a better balance between commercial interests and the health and safety of players,” he added, referring to earlier kick-off times to accommodate European television audiences.
-Reuters
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Former Manchester United and England midfielder Paul Ince has been charged with drink-driving, police said on Monday.
Ince, who earned 53 caps for England and won two Premier League titles during his six years at United, has been released on bail and will appear in court on July 18.
“The incident involved a black Range Rover which had collided with the central reservation barrier. Officers attended the scene and arrested a 57-year-old man,” the Cheshire police said in a statement.
“Paul Ince, of Quarry Road, Neston, has since been charged with drink-driving.”
Reuters has contacted Ince’s representative for comment.
After retiring as a player, Ince led Milton Keynes Dons to a League Two title in 2007-08. He most recently managed Reading during 2022-23.
-Reuters
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International Football
From garbage collector to Starman of Ancelotti’s Brazil team: the story of Ribeiro
“I was without a team for a year and a half, doing trials… and no club in Brazil wanted me.!” Alex Ribeiro
Alexsandro Victor de Souza Ribeiro (Rio de Janeiro, 1999) was, until a few days ago, a semi-unknown to the general public in Brazil.
However, Carlo Ancelotti, impressed by his strong performance against Real Madrid in the Champions League, insisted on calling up the Lille centre-back… and giving him his debut.
Not only that. He started alongside Marquinhos against Ecuador (0-0) and Paraguay (1-0) and helped the Seleçao keep two consecutive clean sheets for the first time in the qualifying rounds.
Alex, as he likes to be called, impressed with his 1.92 meters (6′ 1″) frame and confidence. According to ‘R10Score’, he was the Brazilian player who completed the most actions with the ball (186) and the second with the most cuts (11).
He completed 154 of the 166 passes he made (92% accuracy) and won 12 of the 16 duels he was involved in: 5 of 7 at ground level and 7 of 9 in the air. “A gentleman defender,” boasted the official Ligue 1 Portuguese account.
His path to the elite wasn’t easy. “I don’t think you know this, but this is my first game as a professional in Brazil. Strange, isn’t it? There’s nothing better. To debut in Brazil like this, with a win and qualification,” he boasted after defeating Paraguay.
These first few days with Ancelotti have been unique; I’ll remember them for the rest of my life. I’ve responded well not only to myself, but also to the coach and the Brazilian people. I was able to demonstrate my ability to those who had doubts. Few people give me the opportunity that the manager has given me,” he insists
The Lille centre-back took his first steps in Flamengo’s youth system, where he even met Vinicius.
“When we played against Real Madrid, Vini came up to me and hugged me. He said, ‘I’m glad to see you here, brother.’ That inspired and motivated me even more,” he told ‘Globo Esporte’.
‘Fla’ cut him off. He had to make a living as a street vendor. He also collected trash, especially cans. “I was without a team for a year and a half, doing trials… and no club in Brazil wanted me, so I went to Europe to play in Portugal’s Third Division.”
Praiense (2018-20), Amora (2020-21), and Chaves (2021-22)—the latter already in the Second Division—were his springboard to Lille. The Bulldogs signed him in 2022-23 for €2 million. He has become a more than worthy successor to his compatriot Gabriel Magalhaes.
“Little by little, my name is spreading. My football is reaching everywhere. This includes Brazil,” he said before making his debut with the Seleçao. Now that he’s made it, he has another challenge: “I want to continue it.”
-Marca
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