Welcome to the Thunder Football Newsletter. #19
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What today's email is all about:

• Last Round of Champions League Matches 🇪🇺

• Shoutout to the Underdogs ⚽️

• 2023 CAF Awards 🏆

• Memes 😂

UEFA Champions League

Last Round of Group Stage Matches

Tonight and tomorrow night the last group stage matches of the 2023/24 UEFA Champions League will be played. With only 4 knockout stage spots left it all comes down to these last few games. Let’s dive in and see who can still make it through.

Here are all the groups and fixtures:
(no point in typing it out)

Group A
Man United plays Bayern tonight in arguably the biggest match of the week. If Man U somehow beats Bayern and the other Group A match (Copenhagen vs Galatasaray) ends in a draw then Man U can still make it out of the group. Whoever wins between Copenhagen and Galatasaray will go through regardless of the other match.

Group C
With Real Madrid’s top spot in the group already confirmed, it comes down to Napoli and Braga to see who will claim the 2nd qualification spot. And guess what, they are playing each other! Braga will have to win big to surpass Napoli, a draw or win for Napoli will ensure they go through.

Group F
The other biggest game is Dortmund vs PSG. A win for PSG will see them through alongside Dortmund. If Dortmund wins, the winner between Newcastle and Milan will join them in the knockout stages. A lot is still to play for in Group F.

Group H
Shakhtar Donetsk has to beat Porto if they want to proceed alongside Barcelona from Group H. A draw or win for Porto will ensure their qualification.

Shoutout to the Underdogs

Another crazy weekend saw many of Europe’s top clubs lose to underdog teams. Here are the biggest upsets.

9 December 2023 - Bundesliga 🇩🇪
Eintracht Frankfurt 5:1 Bayern Munich

10 December 2023 - La Liga 🇪🇸
Barcelona 2:4 Girona

9 December 2023 - Premier Leauge 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿
Man United 0:3 Bournemouth

9 December 2023 - Premier Leauge 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿
Aston Villa 1:0 Arsenal

10 December 2023 - Premier Leauge 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿
Everton 2:0 Chelsea

2023 CAF Awards

Africa’s most esteemed football awards ceremony took place at the Palais des Congrès in Marrakech, Morocco on Monday, the 11th of December 2023.

In recent years the CAF Awards were dominated by Egypt and Senegal with Salah and Mané being crowned the African Player of the Year on 2 occasions each.

This year, 12 out of the 14 Awards went to Morocco 🇲🇦, Nigeria 🇳🇬 and South Africa 🇿🇦.

The Award Winners (Men)

• Player of the Year: Victor Osimhen (Nigeria, Napoli) 🇳🇬

• Interclub Player of the Year: Percy Tau (South Africa, Al Ahly) 🇿🇦

• Coach of the Year: Walid Regragui (Morocco) 🇲🇦

• Goalkeeper of the Year: Yassine Bounou (Morocco, Al Hilal) 🇲🇦

• Young Player of the Year: Lamine Camara (Senegal, Metz) 🇸🇳

• National Team of the Year: Morocco 🇲🇦

• Club of the Year: Al Ahly (Egypt) 🇪🇬

The Award Winners (Women)

• Player of the Year: Aisat Oshoala (Nigeria, Barcelona) 🇳🇬

• Interclub Player of the Year: Fatima Tagnaout (Morocco, AS FAR) 🇲🇦

• Coach of the Year: Desiree Ellis (South Africa) 🇿🇦

• Goalkeeper of the Year: Chiamaka Nnadozie (Nigeria, Paris FC) 🇳🇬

• Young Player of the Year: Nesryne El Chad (Morocco, Lille) 🇲🇦

• National Team of the Year: Nigeria 🇳🇬

• Club of the Year: Mamelodi Sundowns (South Africa) 🇿🇦

Memes 😂

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