Russia has unveiled three candidates to become the official mascot for the 2018 FIFA World Cup. An image of a tiger, a wolf, and a cat, were projected onto the Moscow State University. The presentation was part of the annual Circle of Light International Festival.

An online vote was launched, so Russian football fans could decide on their favorite character. The winning character will be announced live on television on October 21st. The 2018 World Cup will be held from June 14th to July 15th at 12 stadiums in different Russian cities.

Presstv

FIFA through the Confederation of African Football (CAF) has unveiled the identity of the arbitrator for the highly anticipated duel between two African football giants, Cameroon and Algeria.

The first leg that will be staged in Algiers will be handled by the South African, Daniel Bennett. The 40 year old, Daniel Bennett is an international referee since 2002.

By Rita Akana

The Paralympic Games will begin this Wednesday in the city of Rio and the competition will see only one Cameroonian taking part. Unlike the Olympics when Cameroon was represented by 24 athletes in four disciplines, the Paralympic Games scheduled to end on the 18^th of September will have Christian Gobe based in Switzerland since 2000 fighting for Cameroon.

Broken by polio and confined to a wheelchair since the age of 4 years, Christian was a gold medalist at the All Africa Games (shot put).  He was also a silver medalist at the Grand Athletics CPI in Dubai in 2014. He has never been supported by the CPDM regime in Cameroon on lame and ridiculous reason that there are no financial means for disabled athletes.

Interestingly, a man whose name we got as Jean Jacques Ndoudoumou, the so-called President of the Cameroon National Paralympic Committee, left Cameroon on Monday at the head of a delegation of six members to encourage our Christian Gobe.

By Rita Akana

Swiss federal prosecutors say they have opened criminal proceedings against Germany football great Franz Beckenbauer as a part of corruption probe.

Attorney General of Switzerland announced that Beckenbauer with three other members of the 2006 World Cup organizing committee, Horst Rudolf Schmidt, Theo Zwanziger and Wolfgang Niersbach are under investigation over allegations of corruption in the awarding of the 2006 World Cup to Germany.

The 70-year-old and former Bayern Munich captain has denied wrongdoing.

Presstv

Clinton Njie is now a Marseille player. The Cameroon international, 23, has left Spurs and has reportedly signed a one year loan deal.

The agreement also states that Olympique de Marseille has an option to grant the athlete a permanent deal valued at € 7 million. The Cameroonian striker has already passed a medical. He will join OM this Wednesday.

By Chi Prudence Asong

Achill Rovers footballer, Joseph N’Do’s generosity and selflessness shone through over the weekend when he donated his 2006 Eircom League winning medal to Gearóid’s Smile, for it to be auctioned to raise money for children’s cancer. The former Cameroon International footballer was one of over 400 people who took part in the Three Peak Challenge in aid of Gearóid’s Smile on Achill Island over the weekend.

Gearóid’s Smile is a children’s cancer charity which is in memory of six-year-old Gearóid Murphy from Achill who died from cancer in 2014.N’Do who made 21 appearances for Cameroon and played in the 1998 World Cup in France stunned Gearóid’s family when he presented the Eircom League medal he won in 2006 while playing for Dublin club Shelbourne. The medal will be auctioned at a later date to raise money for Gearóid’s Smile.

Generosity

Gearóid’s mother, Mary told The Mayo News that this gesture by N’Do was an example of the generosity and support which people have shown towards them.“You don’t expect things like this…you don’t expect someone to hand over their medal which they worked hard to win. It just shows you of the absolute generosity of the people and the outstanding community spirit in Achill which is second to none. People who were not able to climb made themselves available to volunteer to do something else. Everyone rallied behind the event, just the same as last year,” she said.

Gearóid would have made his First Holy Communion this year and his class in Dooagh NS presented a cheque of €100 towards the charity, which was raised from donations they received for their Communion.A huge number of people took part in the Three Peak Challenge in Saturday which involved climbing the three highest mountains on Achill Island.

The climb started at 6am with 138 people starting the first climb of Croaghan, 200 took part in the climb and walk at Slievemore while 105 completed the challenge with the climb of Minaun.Mary said they were thrilled with the turnout and thanked all the people who travelled to take part and made it an enjoyable event.

Argentina and Barcelona footballer Lionel Messi has been sentenced to 21 months in prison for tax fraud. His father, Jorge Messi, was also given a jail term for defrauding Spain of €4.1m (£3.5m; $4.5m) between 2007 and 2009.

They also face millions of euros in fines for using tax havens in Belize and Uruguay to conceal earnings from image rights. However, neither man is expected to serve time in jail. Under the Spanish system, prison terms of under two years can be served under probation.

BBC

Nicolas Nkoulou has been presented officially as an Olympique Lyonnais player. Cameroon Concord News gathered that Nkoulou signed a 4 years deal with the Ligue 1, France side.

The Cameroonian was presented to the public at a press conference on Wednesday by the President of Lyonnais, Jean-Michel Aulas. A native of Yaounde, Nkoulou has replaced another  Yaounde citizen, Samuel Umtiti, who left Lyon for Barcelona.

Chi Prudence Asong (Cameroon Concord News)

Cameroon football legend has announced a charity match in Antalya in Turkey to celebrate the 10^th anniversary of the Samuel Eto’o Foundation.A sea of soccer stars have registered their attendance.

Cameroon Concord News gathered that the charity match will be staged on July the 16, 2016. Eto’o who recently celebrated a church wedding with his long time partner Georgette does not intend to retire from soccer anytime soon.

Chi Prudence Asong (Cameroon Concord News Group)