Sports
Benjamin Asare, Razak Simpson set new standards …as Samartex emerges 13th winner of competition
The 2023/24 Ghana Premier League produced a 13th different winner in the history of the competition following Medeama SC’s inability to retain the title.
The Tarkwa lads finished eighth in the just ended campaign as they were ‘overthrown’ by Sameraboi based, FC Samartex 1996.
Statistics released by the Ghana Football Association (GFA) confirmed three clubs, Accra Great Olympics, Bofoakwa Tano and Real Tamale United as sides to have suffered relegation while, FC Samartex 1996, Accra Lions, Berekum Chelsea and Nsoatreman FC finished in the top four.
FC Samartex successfully won the Premier League title for the first time to become the 13th different winner of the competition having qualified for the elite league only two seasons ago. They finished the season with 61 points – same points as Accra Accra Hearts of Oak in the 2021/22 season. Record holders, Asante Kotoko, lifted the 2021-22 League title with 67 points, while Medeama SC won the trophy with 60 points last season.
Abrankese based, Nations FC, played in the Premier League for the first time yet set an impressive record as the only unbeaten side at home.
Kasim Mingle’s team won 10 and drew 7 in 17 home games at the Dr Kwame Kyei Sports Complex. Striker Stephen Amankona is the second Berekum Chelsea player to win the top scorers award with 19 goals as he joins Kofi Owusu who scored the same number of goals (19) to win the golden boot in 2015. Stephen Amankona also becomes the second best top scorer in the last four League seasons – three goals behind Yaw Annor who netted 22 in the 2021-22 season.
Berekum Chelsea’s Stephen Amankona made the headlines with his goal scoring prowess as he ended the season with 19 goals with Steven Mukwala Desse of Asante Kotoko netting 14 goals of which nine were scored on the road.
Agyenim Boateng Mensah of Dreams FC scored 14 goals –his best performance in the League since his move from Division One side, Nzema Kotoko. Ebenezer Abban of Heart of Lions scored 13 goals to become the most prolific defender in the last four years.
Benjamin Asare completed the season with 16 clean sheets yet suffered relegation with Accra Great Olympics after the ‘Dade Boys’ finished in the bottom three. Asare becomes the first goalkeeper in the last four seasons to be relegated after winning the golden gloves.
Still on Benjamin Asare, he is the League’s second best goalkeeper in terms of clean sheets in the last two seasons. Only Iddrisu Abdulai, formerly of Bechem United, has a better record of 18 clean sheets in the 2021-22 season.
Among the debutants in the Ghana Premier League, Hamza Issah who joined Hearts of Oak from feeder club, Auroras, scored 13 goals in his debut campaign. Heart of Lions’ Ebenezer Abban also netted 13 goals in his first League season having played a role in the Kpando Boys’ return to the Ghana Premier League.
Heart of Lions centre back, Ebenezer Abban, scored nine goals from the spot to equal Vincent Atinga Addae’s record (9 goals) for Medeama SC in the 2022-23 Ghana Premier League.
Among the 18 Premier League teams, only Accra Lions played the entire season without a single goal from a spot kick. Heart of Lions were awarded the most (11) penalties this season.
Great Olympics goalkeeper, Benjamin Asare, featured in the League more than any other player with 3,258 minutes. Nine of the top 10 players with the most League appearance are defenders with one goalkeeper in the list.
Nations FC defender, Razak Simpson, won the NASCO Man of the Match awards more than any other player. The former WAFA Centre back bagged seven Man of the Match awards in his debut campaign with Nations FC.
The 2023/24 season recorded 628 goals, one more than the 2021-22 season which had 627 goals. The 2020-21 season produced 691 goals (highest in the last four years) with the 2022/23 season following in second place with 644 goals.
Matchday 4 and Matchday 24 recorded the least number of goals in the season (11), while Matchday 8 had 28 goals (the highest in the season) with a total of 628 goals scored in the just ended campaign.
Accra Great Olympics, Medeama SC and Heart of Lions had the cleanest of sheets in the season (16). While, League Champions, FC Samartex, Nsoatreman FC and Berekum Chelsea had 15 clean sheets each in the season.
Nsoatreman FC and Asante Kotoko SC recorded five away wins each to end the season as teams with most away wins.
Clubs with the most goals scored, included champions FC, Samartex (45), Dreams FC (44) and Aduana FC (43).
Ghana Premier League record holders, Asante Kotoko, scored 17 away goals this season with Steven Mukwala Desse netting nine of the goals. (Record away goal scoring form by a player in the League).
Relegated Real Tamale United lost 21 games (worst record by a club in the League), Aduana FC lost 16 games having finished in fifth place.
Bofoakwa Tano, who suffered relegation, recorded 15 draws – the highest in the League. Heart of Lions, Accra Hearts of Oak, Bechem United and Accra Great Olympics occupy the top five spots.
Also, League Champions, FC Samartex, won 19 games in the league with 16 of them coming at home and three others on the road.
Accra Lions played the entire season without receiving a red card but Legon Cities and Nsoatreman recorded six red cards each. (Season’s worst record).
Thirty-One (31) centre referees officiated 306 Ghana Premier League games with Julian Nunoo officiating 17 of the games – the highest of the season. Juliet Appiah is the only female centre referee to officiate in this seasons League.
Attention will be at the Golden City Park in Berekum tomorrow as Hearts of Oak lock horns with Berekum Chelsea FC in a Ghana Premier League Matchday 6 game that promises an electrifying atmosphere.
Lying sixth on the league table with two wins and three draws, the Phobians visit a ground that has been favourable to them in recent times. In their last three visits to the Golden City Park, Hearts have amassed seven out of nine points, putting them in strong contention to win.
Head Coach Mas-Ud Didi Dramani says, “The team is making progress in its tactical identity despite the lack of goals, and this is something we are working on ahead of this game.”
Hearts will come face-to-face with former coach Samuel Boadu, whose side lies a distant 13th on the league table with a win and a draw from four games. Coach Boadu is yet to celebrate a victory over the Phobians since joining the Berekum lads and would hope this fixture marks a turnaround.
Ninth-placed Vision FC would trek to the Nana Fosu Gyeabour Park in Bechem to play Bechem United, while new boys Hohoe United host Aduana FC at the Hohoe Sports Stadium.
Returnees Swedru All Blacks will welcome Basake Holy Stars to the Swedru Sports Stadium, with defending league champions Bibiani Gold Stars staying put at their backyard, the Dun’s Park, to welcome second-placed Heart of Lions FC on Monday.
Today at the TnA Stadium in Tarkwa, Medeama SC will clash with Samartex FC in a Western derby. Other games scheduled for today would see Eleven Wonders FC host Karela United at the Swedru Sports Stadium, while Dreams FC face Nations FC at the Tuba Astro Turf.
By Raymond Ackumey
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Ghana coach Otto Addo may not command the kind of fear and respect like Pep Guardiola, Jose Mourinho, Carlo Ancelotti, Luis Enrique and others in the modern game, but in his small corner, he is gradually climbing the ladder to greatness in Ghana, Africa and the world at large.
The aforementioned coaches attained greatness with club sides and, therefore, open an argument over whether one is not comparing apples to oranges. But no matter how one looks at it, they are all coaches harbouring similar ambitions to attain greatness in their fields.
Otto Addo is one of the young and upcoming coaches holding a lot of promise and was getting experience with his association with Borussia Dortmund in Germany until his path was directed by a Ghana call.
Although he was born in Germany, Otto Addo’s association with Ghana football dates back to 1999, spanning a period of about seven years; commencing with a 5–0 rout of Eritrea on February 28. He gained international prominence when he joined the squad for the 2000 African Cup of Nations. He featured as a midfielder in the team for the 2006 FIFA World Cup.
But like it’s often said, a prophet is not recognised in his own home and his efforts partially went unnoticed. He’ll go into the annals as one of the Black Stars coaches to have been fairly or otherwise criticised not just by ‘football people’ but fans who doubted him.
His sack has been discussed at various platforms by people whose knowledge and tactical acumen about the game remains questionable. Ghana’s Minister for Sports and Recreation, Mr Kofi Adams, at one point openly stated his doubts over Otto Addo’s ability to actually deliver.
No coach would feel secured in such turbulent times, but coach Otto Addo kept his calm and composure. On the corridors of his employers, however, the Ghana Football Association (GFA) president, Kurt Okraku, openly rallied support for him, though a few ‘doubting Thomases’ still questioned his credentials.
That painted a picture of a people that forget easily and are quick to crucify. In a brief moment of adversity, Ghanaians forgot how Otto Addo was brought in to pluck qualification for the Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup from the jaws of the Super Eagles of Nigeria with a solitary goal over two legs.
The upshot of that feat was not one any Nigerian would want to remember. The scenes after the match were awfully chaotic, as fans vented their anger on facilities at the stadium. Back in Ghana, it was partying all night and day.
Otto Addo was labeled the football magician. He achieved something no Ghanaian coach had ever accomplished; a feat which Ghana with her all-time best teams could not attain. That was the climax to which Otto Addo took Ghana football, generating calls to start believing in the Ghanaian coach.
Following that to the World Cup proper was another story altogether. It was, or may have been, our poorest show at any of the four World Cup appearances. And just as it was stipulated in his contract, he bowed out after the Qatar World Cup to mind his Borussia Dortmund business with peace.
But as fate would have it, nature found a way to renew his romance with Ghana football after an unconvincing start to the America, Canada and Mexico dream World Cup under special advisor turned coach, Chris Hughton.
Ghana started the qualifiers on a winning note but not a convincing performance. It was saved by an Inaki Williams goal scored on the sixth minute of additional time against Madagascar at the Baba Yara Sports Stadium. The Black Stars then slumped to a 1-0 defeat at the Stade de Moroni to Comoros to heighten calls for a new technical direction.
Then stepped in Otto Addo when Ghana occupied the fourth position in Group I with three points but with the countries in the group evenly matched.
By Andrew Nortey
