Hot!
Dede Ayew wins highest award at 2022 Calcio Trade Ball
It was a night of absolute bliss, glamour and class at the Calcio Trade Ball event by the football talent agency group ArthurLegacy when it held the 4th edition in Accra last Saturday.
An annual event by the leading African football agency company, this year’s event was held at the Kempinski Hotel Gold Coast City, Accra and brought together some of the continent’s biggest names in football, government officials and the diplomatic and corporate communities.
This year’s event underscored the unique partnership between the ArthurLegacy brand and the Italian Embassy in Accra and how both parties have over the years worked to ensure a seamless facilitation of special Ghana-Italy trade ties using football as a tool.
Addressing the gathering, the Italian Ambassador to Ghana, HE. Daniela d’ Orlandi said Italy’s place in Ghanaian football history was one that truly inspired and laid a foundation that kept yielding fruits.
The Italian government she added, found in ArthurLegacy a strategic partner that had over the years executed this flawlessly and looked forward to more of such.
Reechoing her sentiments, a longtime associate of ArthurLegacy, Madam Ama Bawuah called on the corporate community to open its doors to the brand, suggesting the football economy is one every country needed to complement its growth.
Founder of ArthurLegacy, Oliver Arthur also said his organisation would continue to invest in the game to give opportunities to young talents while General Manager of ArthurLegacy, Kathleen Arthur, reiterated the successes of the brand and how it carried with it the dreams of many families.
“Because of what we do and do so well, the lives of these players and their families are shaped in ways unimaginable and for us that is the bigger satisfaction we get.
“In the next 10 years, we want to still help make the dreams and aspirations of these footballers come to pass. We want to be the reason some of these players never gave up in life. Ghana has a large pool of talents and ArthurLegacy is going to be ever present in that ecosystem,” she said.
This year’s Calcio Trade Ball (CTB) saw Black Stars captain Andre Dede Ayew win the topmost award CTB Order of the Star. Andre commended ArthurLegacy and the Italian Embassy for the initiative, calling on others to help provide the avenue for more football talents from Ghana.
Other winners include, Sully Ali Muntari – Lifetime Achievement Award,Franck Yannick Kessié – Serie A African Player of the Year ,Edmund Addo – ArthurLegacy Player of the Year, Felix Afena-Gyan – Most Promising Footballer, Alhaji Grunsah – Special Recognition (Football Development)
Started in 2016, it is held under the auspices of the Embassy of Italy in Ghana and ArthurLegacy. The event celebrates the contribution of Italy to the development of Ghana football and promotes Ghana-Italy cultural relations.
Founded in 2013 by Oliver Arthur, one of Ghana’s leading football agents, ArthurLegacy Sports provides end-to-end training and management of young gifted African football talents.
As of July 2019, the agency has brokered over 50 direct and indirect deals for African football players from diverse backgrounds, ethnicity and culture.
By Spectator Reporter
President John Dramani Mahama has commissioned four career diplomats as ambassador-designates to represent Ghana in four countries.
The commissioning ceremony took place on Friday, October 16, 2026.
The new envoys are Her Excellency Nana Antwiwaa Dodoo, Ambassador-Designate to Angola; His Excellency Louis Kwame Obeng, Ambassador-Designate to Qatar; Her Excellency Evelyn Korantemaa Ofosu-Amable, Ambassador-Designate to Israel; and His Excellency Jedidiah Reuben Adogla, Permanent Representative-Designate to Switzerland.
President Mahama charged them to advance Ghana’s national interests through strategic partnerships, economic diplomacy, investment mobilization, and expanded access to international markets.
He said Ghana’s diplomatic engagements must deliver tangible economic benefits, create jobs, and strengthen the country’s standing on the international stage.
The four envoys are career diplomats with over 27 years of experience.
On behalf of her colleagues, Her Excellency Nana Antwiwaa Dodoo thanked the President for the confidence reposed in them and pledged their commitment to emulate his leadership and deliver on the mandate given to them.
By Edem Mensah-Tsotorme
The professor who spends his days exploring the intricacies of African languages found himself at the centre of a different kind of lesson on Friday, October 2, 2026. 
This time, there were no lecture notes, academic arguments or university classrooms. Instead, there was the weight of tradition, the rhythm of a community celebration and the solemnity of an oath at a royal palace.
Professor Ọbádélé Kambon, a full Professor of African Linguistics at the University of Ghana, was enstooled as Apagyahene and Sunsum Ɔsahene of Akuapem Mampong in the Eastern Region in a ceremony that brought academia and traditional authority together.
For the professor, the occasion was more than a new title. It was a moment that connected his academic interests in African languages and indigenous knowledge with the living traditions of an Akan community.
The day’s events unfolded through a series of customary observances. Kambon was first taken to the compounds of the Ɔkyeamehene and Gyasehene, where the preparations for his installation continued.
Then came the application of hyire, the white kaolin powder associated with traditional rites.
With the customary proceedings underway, the new chief was lifted onto the shoulders of celebrants and carried along the main thoroughfare of Akuapem Mampong.
The procession transformed the streets into a public stage for a ceremony rooted in the community’s traditional institutions.
There was something striking about the image, a university professor, accustomed to the measured language of academic discourse, being carried through the town in a display of traditional recognition.
Yet the celebration was not complete with the procession.
A ram was sacrificed at the Mamponghene’s compound before Kambon was taken to the palace, to swear the oath associated with his new offices.
The ceremony brought him formally into his roles as Apagyahene and Sunsum Ɔsahene.
Beyond the colourful proceedings, the titles themselves carry layers of historical meaning.
Kambon in his research explores the historical connections between Apagya and Akan political and military organisation.
Accounts cited in his work linked Apagya to an asafo, or military company, while historical writing traces an Apagya stool in Asante to the reign of Opoku Ware I in the eighteenth century.
These historical associations offer a glimpse into the institutions that have shaped Akan society over generations, although they do not automatically define the precise responsibilities of the office in Akuapem Mampong.
Kambon’s own professional life reflects a similar interest in preserving and examining African knowledge.
His work encompasses Akan language structure, naming practices across the Black world, proverbs and indigenous intellectual traditions.
Through Abibitumi, the platform he founded, he also promotes language learning, scholarship and cultural engagement.
But tradition was only one part of the story that day.
When the formal ceremony gave way to a reception, the occasion expanded into a celebration of three milestones: Kambon’s enstoolment, his promotion to full professor and his daughter Ama’s admission to the University of Ghana.
The gathering therefore carried a personal significance that went beyond the honours bestowed on one man. 
It celebrated professional advancement, the continuation of family aspirations and a connection to cultural heritage.
For a father, seeing a daughter gain admission to the same university where he holds a distinguished academic position offered another reason to celebrate.
For the professor, the moment placed family achievement alongside his own professional and traditional milestones.
Kambon had already established a place in the traditional life of Akuapem Mampɔn through an earlier installation as Banmuhene Kyidɔmhene, recorded in 2017.
His latest enstoolment adds another chapter to that relationship.
In Akuapem Mampɔn, the day brought together the university, the palace and the family table in one celebration. And for Kambon, the journey from the lecture room to the traditional procession showed how scholarship, cultural responsibility and family achievement could converge in a single memorable occasion.
By Enoch Ntiamoah Siaw
SKIP THE QUEUE, TAP THE NEWS
You can now read the Ghanaian Times and The Spectator newspapers from the comfort of your device via TimesNewsPlus.
Join our WhatsApp Channel: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VbBElzjInlqHhl1aTU27
