Sports
Binance Becomes Official Sponsor of AFCON 2021
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has accepted the world’s leading blockchain ecosystem and cryptocurrency exchange, Binance, as an official sponsor of the TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) 2021.
A total of 24 countries are in Cameroon for the biggest football tournament in Africa. The competition started on Sunday, January 9, 2022, and will end on February 6, 2022.
Binance said it is bringing its global brand and technology to African football. The sponsorship deal will make Binance the exclusive cryptocurrency and blockchain platform for the AFCON 2021.
It will also be the official partner of the Assist of the Day/Binance Assist of the Week/Binance Assist of the Tournament, which will be promoted across CAF’s social media channels, including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok and across all six venues in five cities in Cameroon.
“I am delighted to welcome Binance as an official sponsor of the AFCON tournament this year.
“Through this partnership with CAF, Binance will connect further with its users and the African community through football.
“CAF is ready to embrace blockchain-based technology and its impact on the future of African football development. I am certain that together with Binance, we can take African football to a new level,” the General-Secretary of CAF, Veron Mosengo-Omba, said.
“With a population of 1.2 billion Africans and the prevalence of blockchain technology and its use cases, we believe the African continent could lead the future of the blockchain industry.
“We will continue to put in our efforts in pushing the mainstream adoption of crypto, so that more people can understand crypto, and understand Binance,” the co-founder and CMO of Binance, Yi He, stated.
Also commenting, Binance Director for Africa, Emmanuel Babalola, stated that, “Football is the most popular sport in Africa, one that unites the entire continent and as the leading blockchain ecosystem, we are proud to be an official sponsor of the AFCON tournament. This corroborates our mission to take crypto mainstream across the continent.”
As part of its mission to drive blockchain adoption and enable greater access to financial services for the world’s unbanked, Binance has provided free crypto education classes to over 541,000 Africans since 2020 – on topics ranging from user protection to building a career in blockchain.
Sports
Analysis Reveals Wilfried Zaha as Africa’s Most Handsome Athlete for 2024
By Dipo Olowookere
An analysis has shown that an Ivorian footballer, Wilfried Zaha, is the most handsome African sportsperson in 2024.
Zaha, who opted to play for Cote d’Ivoire after the Three Lions of England snubbed by him, currently plies his trade in Turkey for Galatasaray.
He moved to Turkey from England, where he played for Crystal Palace, and was one of the stars of the football outfit.
In research conducted by Bettors, Zaha topped the list as the most attractive African male athlete of 2024, closely followed by Odion Ighalo, a former Nigerian striker, and Akani Simbine, a South African sprinter.
The Most Handsome African Athletes of 2024 rankings used the golden ratio as a benchmark for facial attractiveness.
This study carefully analysed high-quality images of athletes from various sports, offering a fresh perspective on their aesthetic appeal.
The methodology involved selecting three high-quality images per athlete, sourced from official sports archives, media outlets, and verified athlete profiles, ensuring accuracy and clarity, according to the results of the research made available to Business Post.
Fourth on the list is Alex Iwobi of Nigeria, who plays for Fulham FC in England, and a Tanzanian footballer with Greece’s PAOK, Ally Samatta, is the fifth Most Handsome Athlete in Africa.
Ghana and Arsenal’s midfielder, Thomas Partey, is sixth, Senegalese Kalidou Koulibaly is seventh, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang of Garbon is eight, Ivorian Cheick Sallah-Cisse is ninth and Senegalese Reug Reug is number 10 on the list.
Sports
Premier League Festive Fixtures Begin on DStv, GOtv
Second-placed Arsenal and ninth-placed Manchester United will square up at the Emirates Stadium on Wednesday in the first big match of the Premier League festive schedule.
The action-packed month of December will see each Premier League team play six matches within the next 28 days, with Champions League, Europa, Conference League and Carabao Cup matches in between.
The Gunners face the Red Devils knowing there’s no room for error in their chase of Liverpool who are nine points clear at the top of the table. United lost on each of their last three visits to Arsenal but will bank on the new Manager bounce. United Manager, Ruben Amorim, led Sporting Lisbon to a penalty shootout win over Arsenal at the Emirates in the Europa League round of 16 encounter two seasons ago.
During his press conference, Amorim charged his team to be brave against the Gunners. “Arsenal is the best team I’ve faced by far, they are in a different moment. But every game is a big test now because there are few days to train and we have to manage the minutes of every player. But I want my players to be brave to play this game. We need to have the ball and dominate moments of the game,” he said. United will be without Lisandro Martinez and Kobbie Mainoo due to suspension. Tune in to catch the action as it unfolds live on DStv channel 203 and GOtv channel 66 at 9:15 pm on Wednesday.
In the other big match of the day, Liverpool will aim to continue their impressive run when they visit Saint James’ Park to take on Newcastle in one of the 8:30 pm matches on Wednesday. The match will also be available on DStv and GOtv. Newcastle lost 2-0 at home to West Ham last Monday and will be desperate to prevent a consecutive home defeat in front of the Geordies.
Other matches on Wednesday include Southampton vs Chelsea, Aston Villa vs Brentford, Manchester City vs Nottingham Forest, and Everton vs Wolverhampton Wanderers. On Thursday, Fulham will host Brighton while Bournemouth welcome Tottenham Hotspurs to the Vitality Stadium.
Customers can enjoy all matches this festive period by reconnecting their DStv or GOtv decoders. Simply dial *288# to renew or upgrade your subscription. You can also take advantage of the GOtv Golden Window and upgrade to Supa Plus package for N13,900 instead of N15,700. You can also download the MyGOtv app for a better self-service experience.
Sports
What is SRL & Why is It Better Than Virtual Football
Today’s sports betting services are way more advanced than several years ago. Modern punters can wager on all kinds of sports from the comfort of their homes. Aside from the standard alternatives, however, players can also bet on virtual sports and even take part in the simulated reality league (SRL).
Unlike Virtual Sports, which has been around for years, SRL is relatively new, meaning that not a lot of people know about it. Although it has its specifics, a lot of punters agree that it can be better than v-sports, especially virtual football. There are many reasons for it, so let’s dive in and learn more.
What’s the Simulated Reality League?
Before learning why the SRL is better than virtual football, it is important to share a few things about it. Generally speaking, the Simulated Reality League is a place where advanced machine learning tech and AI process large amounts of data from numerous sporting events. Thanks to that, the AI algorithm can create different numbers of situations, gameplays, and outcomes.
To put it in other words, this complex system uses the real performance of teams or players and creates a similar sporting experience where the results are unpredictable. Unlike in Virtual Sports, where everything is based on the RNG system, here, the Simulated reality league matches are based on the performance of the players and teams. In the case of football, the league offers matches from the world’s best football competitions, such as the EPL, La Liga, and the Bundesliga, and all of them take place at the same time as the real games.
It’s no surprise that the Simulated reality focuses mainly on football because this is the most popular sport in the world. With that said, it is also possible to find simulations for cricket, especially the T20 format that includes the Indian Premier League. Additionally, players will find daily coverage of the big WTA and ATP tennis tournaments.
The specifics
Since Simulated Reality is not that common among sports bettors yet, many people are not exactly sure how it all works. The most important aspect to remember is that everything is unpredictable and exciting. The matches are simulations of real-time events, and AI and the RNG tech ensure that the result is not predetermined. Instead, it is based on what’s happening in the match, making it much more exciting.
AI is the main star of the show here and is the “engine” behind everything. The people behind the SRL train the algorithm to process a lot of data and come up with unique sequences. The latter replicates the real match, providing bettors with a unique experience.
Since all Simulated Reality is new, it also means that people who have not used it so far will have a completely new experience. As we have seen, SR is very different from virtual sports, so it will be something that players will be interested in.
Things to keep in mind when comparing SR to Virtual Football
As mentioned, these two have many differences that people need to take into account. Perhaps the biggest one is realism because V-sports are just simulations that are entirely based on RNG. This means that their outcomes are random and have nothing to do with the real performance of the teams and players.
Those who decide to bet on the Simulator Reality League, however, will see that the latter uses a different algorithm. In other words, players have various types of experience.
With that said, there are some drawbacks of the SRL that bettors need to take into account, one of which is availability. Virtual Sports are available around the clock, which means you can bet on them at any time of the day. The SRL, on the other hand, is based on actual matches across football, cricket, and tennis. This means that there are only a handful of events per day.
The second drawback that users have to take into consideration is the match’s length. As mentioned, virtual sports are always there when you need them, and each match lasts no more than a couple of minutes. This allows you to bet on multiple options.
Due to how it works, the SRL is not like that because the matches there take as much time as the real ones. In the case of soccer, players will have regular 90 minutes of play.
Conclusion
Despite some disadvantages, the SRL is a very attractive option for people who want to bet on football. The new tech is somewhat between real sports betting and virtual sports, so it will definitely have a lot of fans. It will be very interesting to keep track of this option’s future development.
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