Rowyal Highness.

[Rowyal Highness. @Rowyal1]

I'm pinning this

[David Hundeyin @DavidHundeyin]

The most important thing you can do for yourself as an African in the 21st century is to accept yourself and stop fighting civil wars inside your head.

Stop fighting your hair.
Stop fighting your accent/language.
Stop fighting your skin.
Stop fighting your food.
Stop fighting your inborn spirituality because of other people's deities.
Stop denying your identity.
Stop denying your social/political/geopolitical context.

Stop all the denial-of-self rituals you have been indoctrinated with from childhood and fully accept yourself for who and what you are.

Once you have the approval of the person you see in the mirror every morning, you won't need anybody's external validation, neither will you feel the need to apologise for existing, occupying space and having a purpose in this world.

From personal experience, it is the most liberating thing you will ever do in your life.

[Rowyal Highness. @Rowyal1]

Bruh! This is ridiculous

[Chetuya Chinagolum @Chetuyachinago]

It is crucially important to loudly emphasize that the structural arrangements and the revenue-sharing formulas for extracted Nigerian crude oil that existed from 1993 up until 1998 during the Sani Abacha military government were fundamentally different from the submissive, neocolonial policies that existed after 1999, when Nigeria transitioned into a heavily compromised, Western-approved democratic government with Olusegun Obasanjo emerging as the president.

Under the Abacha administration, most of the deep offshore oil fields in Nigeria had not even been discovered yet, and the local domestic industries completely lacked the highly advanced technical infrastructure, the specialized deepwater drilling equipment, and the massive financial capital required for such high-level exploration. Consequently, the original policy framework was strictly designed to allow the greedy IOCs to merely perform the expensive, and dirty work of physical exploration, but they were legally and categorically forbidden from actually owning the oil blocks outright.

Under Abacha's uncompromising resource nationalism, any lucrative oil block had to be owned strictly by a local Nigerian company, and the foreign IOC would then be forced to enter into a highly regulated joint-venture agreement or a technical partnership with the local company if they wanted to participate in the lucrative production.
A highly famous example of this resource battle would be the notorious Malabu oil block (OPL 245). It was one of the single biggest, most lucrative deepwater oil blocks in the entire country, accounting for a staggering one-fourth of all known deepwater oil deposits in Nigeria at the time. Chevron pulled every single diplomatic lever, geopolitical string, and intelligence asset in Washington to bypass this rule and secure direct ownership of that block, but a fiercely resistant Abacha flatly refused, stood his ground, and insisted that the block must remain fully owned and managed by a local company.

However, just a few short months after this high-stakes geopolitical battle between Abacha and Chevron, Sani Abacha mysteriously, highly conveniently died, and Olusegun Obasanjo was ushered into power. The very first thing the Obasanjo administration did upon capturing Aso Rock was to aggressively seize, confiscate, and revoke all these highly lucrative oil blocks that rightfully belonged to indigenous Nigerian companies, only to hand them over on a silver platter to giant American oil majors and British energy cartels.

Not only did he commit this spectacular, generational economic treason, he single-handedly maintained the lopsided revenue-sharing formulas(designed for exploration only), ensured the Deep Offshore Act remained untouched, and allowed these Western conglomerates to continuously eat the lion's share of Nigeria's liquid wealth.

Even the mineral-rich Bakassi Peninsula, which Abacha had heavily barricaded with battle-ready Nigerian troops to resolutely stop Cameroon from seizing the massive, lucrative offshore oil and gas reserves it contained, was quietly forfeited and signed away by Obasanjo under the submissive guise of international diplomacy and legal compliance.

[Rowyal Highness. @Rowyal1]

I'm hating on England till the end. Left my boy out on some bs

[Telegraph Football @TeleFootball]

⏱️ @Carra23's half-time verdict:

'When Bellingham and Rice play between the lines against a defence set-up like this, you either need a bit of magic from them outside the box, or the wingers to deliver far more than they are currently doing.

'That’s England’s problem here. The longer this goes on, the more we must look to the bench and ask who can come on and make a difference?

'Rice and Bellingham are all about power and energy; they aren’t magicians in the spaces between the lines.

'If this continues, the debate will start regarding Cole Palmer’s absence. We’ve seen so many games like this in major tournaments.

'Those who championed Palmer’s inclusion foresaw tactical conundrums like this – which is why some of us thought it better to have him as an option.'

[Ororo😎 @McFlybowy]

Take it or leave it, of any player born of Mbappe’s generation, he’s the greatest player. He has the output, the influence, and the defining moments to back it up. There’s no one even close to him.

The numbers are ridiculous, but it’s not even just about the goals. It’s the fact that he consistently delivers on the biggest stages. A hat-trick in a World Cup final, World Cup campaigns where he’s been the focal point, countless knockout-stage performances, league titles, individual awards, his résumé is already stacked before even reaching 30. His career is already better than 90% who plays the game.

People can debate who is more talented or who has the higher ceiling, but when you combine production, longevity at the top level, and game-changing moments under pressure, Mbappe is the standout player of his generation. Few players can say they’ve bent major tournaments to their will the way he has at the World Cup.

[Rowyal Highness. @Rowyal1]

Y'all need to STFU seriously. None of you have ever spent 1hr with either of them, yet you have all these opinions on their personalities

[Mod @CFCMods]

Cristiano Ronaldo screaming “I’m back, I’m back” just shows how much he genuinely only cares about himself, Messi scored 5 goals and said he doesn’t care about it he wants to enjoy with his teammates, that’s the difference.

[Rowyal Highness. @Rowyal1]

Perez, pay and don't speak

[Fabrizio Romano @FabrizioRomano]

👀 Kylian Mbappé: “It’s so easy to play with Michael Olise. He makes it easier, playing with his heads up…

…he can always see my movements. I love playing with Michael”.

[Rowyal Highness. @Rowyal1]

Another 55m where we probably shouldn't pay that much

[Fabrizio Romano @FabrizioRomano]

🚨🔵 Chelsea have all set to close Marco Palestra deal for fee over €50m, package in excess of €55m.

Atalanta are ready to accept, Italian RWB offered to earn way more compared to Inter salary proposal.

Final green light needed by Palestra — as Inter won’t match the bid.

[Brian Allen @allenanalysis]

BREAKING: Protests in Albania are escalating, with demonstrators now calling for the resignation of the entire government amid growing anger over the proposed Kushner-Ivanka Trump development project.

What began as opposition to a luxury development is rapidly turning into a broader political crisis.

[Rowyal Highness. @Rowyal1]

They literally gonna spoil it for you, directly or indirectly

[Rhoda @Symply_rhoda1]

So I’ve never watched Game of Thrones (don’t judge me 😭), but I’m about to start. For those who’ve seen it, any advice before I begin? No spoilers please

[Rowyal Highness. @Rowyal1]

If he says anything, they'll say he's obsessed

[Fabrizio Romano @FabrizioRomano]

🚨👋🏼 Cristiano Ronaldo when asked about Messi: “Next question”.

[Martien 🇳🇱 @MartienBall]

Olise is always looking to feed Mbappe. Odegaard is always looking to feed Haaland.

But somehow it only becomes a problem when Portugal players are expected to feed Ronaldo who is literally their TARGET man. The agenda is insane.

[Rowyal Highness. @Rowyal1]

The fact that blocking people's personal accounts when no crime has been committed is a thing is actually ridiculous

[Chris Menahan 🇺🇸 @infolibnews]

"She is banned [from entering] the United States! She cannot use a bank card! She cannot use a debit card! She cannot receive a payment!"

*Crowd cheers*

"After she was sanctioned, we got her husband … he was demoted from his position at the World Bank for incitement to hate!"

[Guinness World Records @GWR]

Most FIFA World Cups scored in by a player - 6 by Cristiano Ronaldo

Suiiiiii 🐐

[Rowyal Highness. @Rowyal1]

Or maybe he just needed to be left alone. I don't fault him at all

[concrete 𖦹 @pinkconcretejpg]

okay but in sheepstealers defense how was he supposed to know who the enemy was? did he and rhaena communicate that prior? maybe sheepstealer is autistic and needs clear communication.

[Rowyal Highness. @Rowyal1]

Real Madrid should be doing everything to get him; Bayern should be doing everything to keep him

[Ray @SirayahShiraz]

Olise to Real Madrid would be absolutely game changing. His connection with Mbappé is something special. TRULY

[Rowyal Highness. @Rowyal1]

@delusionaltakez @DertyDave18 @iakahen @OsheaJacksonJr Go watch the show

[Rowyal Highness. @Rowyal1]

No recency bias or gaslighting will make me forget the feeling I had when Ronaldo scored that bicycle kick against Juve. At that time no one sane could dare say Ronaldo was forced into the debate. That's so so disrespectful. Numbers wise only Messi compares, so how's it forced?

[Ajoje⚽⚖️ @israel_ajoje]

Messi v Ronaldo: With Bias, You Will Always Find the Narrative You Are Looking For

With bias, you will always find the narrative you are looking for. Nowhere is this truer than in football, and nowhere in football is it more visible than in the GOAT debate. The conversation is inherently subjective.

There is no universal scorecard. And because there is no universal scorecard, bias fills the gap, and people argue across decades, across continents, across generations, and never quite arrive anywhere.

Please just stay with me. You will see my what I am driving at if you do. I assure you.

Before Messi and Ronaldo consumed the debate entirely, there were two names that occupied that space. Pelé and Maradona. So dominant was their standing that FIFA conducted two separate polls in the year 2000 to determine the Player of the Century.

Maradona won the public internet vote with 53.6%. Pelé won the expert panel, composed of journalists, coaches, and officials, with 72.75%. FIFA, diplomatically, named them joint winners. Based on the foregoing, he debate was officially sanctioned as unresolvable.

But here is what makes that remarkable. Look at the era Maradona actually played in.

Michel Platini for example won three consecutive Ballon d'Ors between 1983 and 1985, a feat that had never been achieved before and has only been surpassed once since.

He scored nine goals at a single European Championship, a record that still stands more than forty years later. He won the Serie A title, the European Cup, and a European Championship with France, all while being the best player in the world for three straight years.

Karl-Heinz Rummenigge won back-to-back Ballon d'Ors in 1980 and 1981, reached consecutive World Cup finals, and was widely regarded as one of the most complete strikers the sport had produced.

Marco Van Basten won three Ballon d'Ors, led the Netherlands to the 1988 European Championship with one of the most technically perfect volleys ever struck, and was so far ahead of his time that multiple coaches called him the greatest they had ever worked with.

Lothar Matthäus, whom Maradona himself named as his greatest rival, won the 1990 World Cup and the Ballon d'Or in the same year, with 150 international appearances that remain the German record to this day.

So on paper, the 1980s was overflowing with players who matched or exceeded Maradona by almost every formal measure available.

Platini had more Ballon d'Ors. Van Basten had comparable individual awards and a Champions League.

Rummenigge had consecutive golden balls and World Cup final appearances. The likes of ROmario and Gerd Muller(of dufferent generations of course even had more goals tha he did).

And Maradona, remember, never won a conventional Ballon d'Or at all, because the award excluded South Americans throughout his entire peak.

And yet none of them are in the conversation the way Maradona is. Not even close.

Because in 1986, Maradona did something that no trophy, no award, and no statistical record has ever been able to replicate or contain. He carried a nation of forty million people to a World Cup on his back.

He scored the Hand of God and then, four minutes later in the same match, the Goal of the Century against England and at a World Cup quarter-final.

Yet the hand of God wasn't a taint on his legacy or his stake to the claim of being GOAT. The weight of that moment, and what people felt when they watched it, permanently overrode every comparison that statistics could ever produce.

That is the thing about legacy. It does not care about your trophy count, individual awards, or goals. Yes all of these contribute to what one's legacy eventually becomes. But they are not the main thing.

Let us consider something closer to our present. Henry, Ibrahimovic, Benzema, Lewandowski, and Suarez represent one of the most decorated generations of strikers the sport has ever produced.

Between them, only one won the Ballon d'Or. Only one won the World Cup. Does that make either of those individuals definitively greater than the other four? Just think about it.

Modric, Pirlo, Kroos, Iniesta, Busquets, Scholes, Gerrard, Lampard and Xavi form a midfield generation that may never be replicated. Between all of them, only one Ballon d'Ors.

Does that mean the one who won it was undisputably superior to the rest, or does it mean the award simply could not accommodate the scale of that generation?

You may not agree yet. But I think this will drive it home for yous. Dembele. He has a Ballon d'Or and 2 Champions League titles. Mbappe, widely regarded as one of the two or three best players alive today, has neither at club level.

So on paper, in this single snapshot of time, Dembélé outranks Mbappe. You can ask anyone who watches football regularly whether they actually believe that, and watch what happens.

Now let's bring that exact same reasoning forward to the crux of the conversation. Messi has 900+ goals, eight Ballon d'Ors, more than any player in history. He has a World Cup, a Copa America, four Champions League titles, and forty-three major trophies, the most any footballer has ever accumulated.

Ronaldo has 950+ career goals, the highest verified total in football history. He has five Ballon d'Ors, a European Championship, five Champions League titles, and so on.

By the numbers, Messi leads the argument in almost every category. And yet millions of people around the world, right now, would fight you over that conclusion.

Not because the data is wrong, but because Ronaldo made them feel something the data was never designed to measure. He made people believe that wanting something badly enough, working for it hard enough, refusing to accept its absence long enough, could actually get you there. That feeling does not live in a spreadsheet.

Here is what Pelé and Maradona already showed us, and what we are watching unfold again right in front of us. Trophies tell you who won. Legacy tells you who mattered.

And the saddest and most beautiful thing about this debate is that by the time it is finally settled, the two men at the centre of it will be long retired, and the people who watched them will still be arguing.

Not because they cannot see the evidence, but because the evidence never quite captures what they actually witnessed.

That is not a flaw in the debate. That is the whole point of it.

I say this because people are saying now that Ronaldo doesnt deserve to be in the GOAT debate with Messi. Well, I am a Ronaldo truther. And I believe Messi is greater. But from the above, you'll be very dishonest to tell me you don't see how that can be subjective.

Please, with civility, let me know what you think in the comments section.

My name is Ajoje. I am a FIFA Licensed Agent and International Sports Lawyer. I write on the Law and Business of Football, a lot. Repost and Follow if you want to read more posts like this.

[Rowyal Highness. @Rowyal1]

Bro on one 🤣🤣

[Martien 🇳🇱 @MartienBall]

I can’t believe it’s been 23 days and people still find this childish gimmick funny…

I’m people, by the way.

[Rowyal Highness. @Rowyal1]

@DertyDave18 @iakahen @delusionaltakez @OsheaJacksonJr Daenerys

[Rowyal Highness. @Rowyal1]

@iakahen @delusionaltakez @OsheaJacksonJr Nigga asking questions everyone should know

[Rowyal Highness. @Rowyal1]

@delusionaltakez @OsheaJacksonJr Go watch the show!