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Lessons of history favour Super Falcons’ as flight to Paris 2024 passes through Pretoria

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BY ADEMOLA OLAJIRE.

Nigeria will tackle South Africa in a cracker of a match in Pretoria on Tuesday night with the mindset of sustaining a record of never having lost to South Africa in that country in senior women’s football.

The gap has become much closer since 19th March 1995, when the Super Falcons humiliated the Banyana 7-1 in front of their own fans in Johannesburg in a 1995 FIFA Women’s World Cup qualifying match.

Yet, the fact remains that the Banyana are still looking for a first win over the Falcons in any match played in South Africa.

In 24 previous encounters (with seven played in South Africa), Nigeria have won 15, with five ending in draws and South Africa winning on four occasions.

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One of the drawn games was the final match of the 11th Women Africa Cup of Nations, which Nigeria eventually won 4-3 after a penalty shootout in Accra.

South Africa’s four wins have been in Bata, Equatorial Guinea (1-0, 2012 Women AFCON); Cape Coast, Ghana (1-0, 2018 Women AFCON); Lagos, Nigeria (4-2, Aisha Buhari Cup) and; Rabat, Morocco (2-1, 2022 Women AFCON).

Of the seven previous encounters inside South Africa, Nigeria have won five, drawing two.

The only times the Banyana have been able to hold the Falcons in South Africa were on 12th March 2004 (Athens Olympics qualifier which ended 2-2) and a friendly match on 3rd June 2012 that ended 1-1.

The Super Falcons’ delegation for Tuesday’s all-important match arrived in Pretoria on Monday morning, and have settled down in their hotel ahead of their official training at the Loftus Versfeld Stadium on Tuesday night.

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Tuesday’s match will kick off at 7.30pm South African time (6.30pm Nigeria time).

Nigeria’s last two goals against the Banyana have been scored by captain Rasheedat Ajibade. She got the consolation goal in the 2-1 defeat by the arch rivals in Rabat on 4th July 2022, and also converted the penalty that accounted for the win over the visitors in Abuja on Friday evening.

PHOTO: The Super Falcons are ready to celebrate again!

FALCONS, BANYANA IN HISTORY

4 Mar 1995: Nigeria 4 South Africa 1 (WCq)

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19 Mar 1995: South Africa 1 Nigeria 7 (WCq)

25 Nov 2000: South Africa 0 Nigeria 2 (WAfcon)

18 Dec 2002: Nigeria 5 South Africa 0 (WAfcon)

30 Mar 2003: South Africa 0 Nigeria 3 (Friendly)

11 Oct 2003: Nigeria 1 South Africa 0 (AfGames)

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12 Mar 2004: South Africa 2 Nigeria 2 (Oq)

28 Mar 2004: Nigeria 1 South Africa 0 (Oq)

9 July 2007: South Africa 2 Nigeria 2 (AfGames)

18 July 2007: South Africa 0 Nigeria 4 (AfGames)

28 July 2008: Nigeria 5 South Africa 0 (Oq)

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12 Aug 2008: South Africa 0 Nigeria 1 (Oq)

22 Nov 2008: South Africa 0 Nigeria 1 (WAfcon)

4 Nov 2010: South Africa I Nigeria 2 (WAfcon)

3 June 2012: South Africa 1 Nigeria 1 (Friendly)

23 June 2012: Nigeria 0 South Africa 0 (Friendly)

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7 Nov 2012: South Africa 1 Nigeria 0 (WAfcon)

22 Oct 2014: South Africa 1 Nigeria 2 (WAfcon)

29 Nov 2016: Nigeria 1 South Africa 0 (WAfcon)

18 Nov 2018: South Africa 1 Nigeria 0 (WAfcon)

1 Dec 2018: Nigeria 0 South Africa 0 (WAfcon) – Nigeria triumphed 4-3 penalties

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21 Sept 2021: Nigeria 2 South Africa 4 (Aisha Buhari Cup)

4 July 2022: South Africa 2 Nigeria 1 (WAfcon)

5 April 2024: Nigeria 1 South Africa 0 (Oq)

Kunle Solaja is the author of landmark books on sports and journalism as well as being a multiple award-winning journalist and editor of long standing. He is easily Nigeria’s foremost soccer diarist and Africa's most capped FIFA World Cup journalist, having attended all FIFA World Cup finals from Italia ’90 to Qatar 2022. He was honoured at the Qatar 2022 World Cup by FIFA and AIPS.

Olympics

LA28 says first Olympic tickets will go on sale on April 9, resale partners named for 2027

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Tickets for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games will go on sale to the general public on April 9, ​organisers said on Monday, as LA28 also moved to reassure fans over ticket security by naming a group of verified resale ‌platforms that will begin operating in 2027.

A presale for residents in qualifying areas of Los Angeles and Oklahoma City will begin on April 2, with notification emails for selected buyers set to roll out from March 31 through April 4, LA28 said.

On April 7, the organising committee will notify remaining registrants whether they were selected for a purchase ​window in the first general sales round, known as Drop 1.

“This week marks the first opportunity for fans to claim a seat at ​the LA28 Olympic Games,” LA28 Chief Executive Officer Reynold Hoover said in a statement.

LA28’s ticketing programme will include 1 ⁠million tickets priced at $28, the lowest price point. Roughly 5% of the Olympic tickets will cost over $1,000, while more than 75% of all tickets, including ​finals, will be under $400 and nearly 50% of all tickets will be under $200.

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“Tickets are comparable to and in many cases well under what we see for ​other professional sporting and major entertainment events in the U.S.,” Allison Katz-Mayfield, LA28 Senior Vice President, Games Delivery Revenue, told reporters on a call.

RESALE PROGRAMME

Separately, LA28 said its verified multi-platform resale programme would open in 2027, with AXS and Eventim serving as the official secondary ticket marketplace and Ticketmaster and Sports Illustrated Tickets also designated as verified resale ​platforms.

The announcement comes as organisers prepare for the first ticket drop and seek to warn fans against buying from unauthorised sellers before the resale programme ​launches.

LA28 said primary tickets would only be sold through its official ticket service providers, AXS and Eventim. It added that any LA28 tickets offered for resale before 2027 ‌should not ⁠be considered verified.

“While LA28’s resale platforms will not be launched until 2027, having a variety of platforms was critical to providing fans multiple points of access to verified tickets,” Hoover said.

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LOCAL PRESALE

Fans who registered for the LA28 ticket draw and whose billing postal codes fall within qualifying counties were automatically entered into the local presale draw. Those selected will receive 48-hour purchase windows running from April 2 through April 6 and must use a payment method tied ​to a billing postal code in an ​eligible county to complete their ⁠purchase.

For both the local presale and Drop 1, selected buyers will have 48 hours to purchase tickets, while any tickets placed in a cart must be checked out within 30 minutes. Buyers may complete multiple transactions during their allotted ​window until they reach the ticket limit.

LA28 said tickets would be available across all Olympic sports, as well ​as for the ⁠opening ceremony at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood and the closing ceremony at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

Fans selected for time slots may buy up to 12 tickets for Olympic events, plus up to 12 tickets for the soccer tournament that will not count toward the general Olympic-event limit. Ceremony tickets will be capped at ⁠four per ​buyer and will count towards the 12-ticket maximum.

Registrants who are not assigned a time slot in ​either the local presale or Drop 1 will be automatically entered into future draws, LA28 said. Paralympic tickets are due to go on sale in 2027.

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Ticket-inclusive hospitality packages from official provider ​On Location are also expected to go on sale in April. Visa will be the official payment method for purchases.

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LA28 unveils floral-inspired visual identity for 2028 Olympics

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Workers from LA28 setup Olympic and Paralympic flags outside the Los Angeles Coliseum in Los Angeles, California, U.S., May 8, 2025. REUTERS/Mike Blake/File Photo 

Organizers of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic and Paralympic Games unveiled the event’s official visual identity on Monday, a ​floral-themed design system meant to reflect the city’s landscape, neighbourhoods and ‌cultural character.

The branding will appear across competition venues, fan areas, citywide installations, signage, digital platforms and broadcast presentations during the Games, LA28 said.

At the centre of the design is ​the “Superbloom,” a reference to the bursts of wildflowers that can blanket ​parts of Southern California after periods of rain.

LA28 said the ⁠concept was intended as a metaphor for the Games, with years of ​preparation culminating in a short, high-profile global event.

The core graphic is built around ​13 individual blooms, which organizers said represent different elements of Los Angeles, from its entertainment culture to its neighbourhoods, people and native landscape.

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The colour palette draws on the Bird of ​Paradise, the official flower of Los Angeles, and is grouped into four ​families – Poppy, Scarlet Flax, Bluebell and Sagebrush – to evoke the region’s terrain and vegetation.

Organizers said ‌the ⁠typographic style was inspired by Los Angeles street signage, including strip mall and hand-painted storefront lettering, in an effort to give the identity a distinctly local feel.

LA28 said the design was developed to work across a wide range ​of settings, from ​nearly century-old venues ⁠to new facilities, while also accounting for broadcast requirements, digital formats and lighting conditions. The organising committee partnered with ​design studio Koto on the project.

The identity was unveiled more ​than ⁠two years before the Olympic opening ceremony in what organizers described as an unusually early rollout, allowing partners and stakeholders more time to incorporate the branding into ⁠their ​materials.

Los Angeles will host the Olympics for a ​third time in 2028, after staging the Games in 1932 and 1984. It will also host ​the Paralympics for the first time.

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-Reuters

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LA28 ticket registration nears deadline as first Olympic qualifiers emerge

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LA28 officials speak to the media - LA Memorial Coliseum, Los Angeles, California, U.S. - January 13, 2026 General view of Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum REUTERS/Daniel Cole 

Organisers of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics said on Monday that registration for the first ticket draw will close on March 18, as the Games ​begin to take shape with the first baseball qualifiers confirmed and the soccer tournament ‌schedule expanded.

More than five million fans from 197 countries and territories have registered at tickets.la28.org since January for a chance to buy tickets, LA28 said, underscoring strong early demand for the Summer Games, which are due ​to open on July 14, 2028.

Fans who register by the March 18 deadline will ​be eligible for a lottery to receive a purchase window for the ⁠first ticket release, scheduled for April 9-19.

There will also be a local presale running from April ​2-6 for eligible residents in parts of Southern California and Oklahoma. Oklahoma City will host softball ​and canoe slalom.

LA28 said selected applicants would be notified by email between March 31 and April 7. Fans picked for the first sale window will be able to buy up to 12 tickets for Olympic events, ​subject to availability, with a four-ticket cap for each of the opening and closing ceremonies.

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BASEBALL RETURNS

The ​ticketing update comes as the first teams booked places in the Olympic baseball tournament through the 2026 World ‌Baseball ⁠Classic. The Dominican Republic and Venezuela secured qualification spots from the Americas, joining host United States in the six-team field.

Baseball, one of the sports added to the LA28 programme, will return to the Olympics for the first time since the Tokyo Games and will be played at Dodger ​Stadium from July 13-19. ​The remaining three places ⁠will be decided through international qualifying tournaments in 2027 and 2028.

LA28 also confirmed that the Olympic soccer tournament will begin on July 10, four ​days before the opening ceremony, following a decision by the International ​Olympic Committee Executive ⁠Board to extend the competition window.

Organisers said the longer schedule would give teams two additional rest days compared with previous Games.

Group-stage and quarter-final matches will be staged in seven U.S. cities – New York, ⁠Columbus, ​Nashville, St. Louis, San Jose, San Diego and Pasadena – with ​the men’s and women’s gold medal matches to be played at the Rose Bowl.

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LA28 said kickoff times and the full ​schedule would be released later this year.

-Reuters

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