Sports
FA reacts to season cancellation reports
The Ghana Football Association (GFA) has fiercely reacted to a publication on Ghana football website, Ghanasoccernet.com with the headline ‘Ghana FA ExCo unanimously vote to cancel season’.
The story informed all stakeholders of the Ghana Football Association (GFA) and the public that the Executive Council took a decision to cancel the 2019/20 football season at their meeting on Tuesday, June 16, 2020.
But the football regulatory body has described the said publication on ghanasoccernet.com as false, malicious and intended to cause injury to the reputation of the GFA.
The publication is also calculated to deliberately cause confusion and disdain among the members of the Association, sponsors, players, club owners and other stakeholders.
“The GFA wishes to state categorically that no such decision was taken by the Executive Council of the GFA and as such the publication should be disregarded and treated with contempt by our stakeholders and the public.
“We are extremely concerned that though the Association has a good relationship with the media and ghanasoccernet.com, the website failed to crosscheck the story with the Communications Department of the Association, thereby failing to comply with the ethics of journalism. Indeed, there is no prize for fake news in the Code of Ethics of the noble profession.
The Association, the statement said, has in countless media publications stated and repeated that Tuesday, June 30, 2020, as deadline for its final decision on the season after considering all factors including but not limited to the outcome of the various consultations, discussions and engagements with all our stakeholders, such as clubs, sponsors, and government.
It said the GFA has also taken notice of other fake and negative publications on the same website (ghanasoccernet.com), such as the one with the headline, Ghana FA to lose MTN FA Cup sponsorship if season is cancelled.
“Though we hasten to conclude that there is a deliberate agenda to destroy the efforts of the Association to #BringBackTheLove, the website leaves us with only a little doubt that it wishes to harm the corporate image of the GFA, its members and our proud partners.
“The GFA would continue to open its doors to all media networks, however, the Association would not hesitate to seek legal redress to defend its corporate image when the Association is deliberately and/or recklessly maligned or injured through unverified reportage.
“The GFA expects a retraction of the fake story immediately and an apology to the Association and all our stakeholders forthwith.
“Once again, we wish to assure the public and all stakeholders that the Executive Council of the Association will take a decision on June 30, 2020, after considering all factors on the subject matter, a decision that would be in the best interest of Ghana Football.”
Source: Ghanaian Times
Ghana Premier League leaders, Medeama SC, will welcome Karela United to the TnA Stadium in Tarkwa tomorrow, in a Matchday 20 game with the aim to stretch the lead.
Medeama SC, the 2022/23 champions, are aiming to win the title for the second time in their history and, rightly so, have opened a seven-point gap.
Coach Ibrahim Tanko and his charges have been at their marauding best both home and away, recording 40 points from 19 games.
They go into tomorrow’s game with high hopes of avenging the only defeat suffered this season, which came at the hands of Karela United.
For Karela, who are eighth on the table, a double over the leaders will help their push for a top-four finish this season.
Defending league champions and second-place team, Bibiani Gold Stars, will trek to the Berekum Golden City Park to play as guests of struggling Berekum Chelsea tomorrow, with sight set on closing the gap on the leaders.
The Baba Yara Sports Stadium will come alive as striker Albert Amoah leads his Asante Kotoko side to tackle Basake Holy Stars.
Asante Kotoko have lost three games this season including a painful 2-1 defeat to Holy Stars in the first-round tie.
In other games, the University of Ghana Stadium will today host the Eleven Wonders versus Accra Hearts of Oak match; the Swedru Stadium will host Swedru All Blacks FC and Aduana FC; the Nana Fosu Gyeabour Park in Bechem is venue for Bechem United and Heart of Lions; while the Hohoe Stadium play host to the Hohoe United and Vision FC clash; and the Nsenkyire Sports Arena hosting the Samartex FC versus Nations FC game.
BY RAYMOND ACKUMEY
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It’s less than a week since the 2025 AFCON ended in Morocco.
For those that had the privilege to watch it via television, it may have gone into the competition’s annals as one of the best in terms of organisation.
But for the ‘yen bo biom’ (match abandonment) ‘excellently’ staged by the eventual winners, Senegal’s Terranga Lions, AFCON 2025 was beautifully staged and was incident free.
But in the social media age, it is extremely difficult to get every incident wrapped under a cover of darkness.
Videos showed a mix-up at the goal area of Senegal arising from a towel placed near the goal post by goalkeeper Mendy.
But almost a week after, two countries – eventual winners Senegal and Ghana, a non-participant, are still celebrating the gains from the championship.
Streets of Senegal have been filled with fans who wants to catch a glimpse of their heroes.
The victory marked the second time Senegal have been crowned AFCON champions, having won the competition for the first time in 2022.
Characteristic with teams’ success in Africa, they have been handsomely rewarded.
Senegal president, Bassirou Diomaye Faye, has announced that each member of the AFCON winning squad will be awarded a plot of land on the country’s coastline.
Additionally, each player will receive 75 million CFA francs ($134,000; £100,000).
In Ghana, FIFA Referee and Video Assistant Referee (VAR), Daniel Laryea, has become a cult hero with his encouraging performance, especially in the semifinal game between neighbours Nigeria and Morocco.
Last week, this column amply celebrated him and ordinarily, one would expect the focus to shift; and rightly so, the focus is actually not on him but referees of the Ghana Premier League (GPL) whose action, if not sanctioned, could ruin the gains and image credibility Laryea won for Ghana.
A number of clubs have been complaining recently about the state of officiating in the GPL as others threaten to boycott if the situation does not improve.
Kotoko was among the complainants after a decent goal in their game against Gold Stars was disallowed for a very funny reason.
An incident was also reported from Tema where a referee changed a decision to disallow a goal after watching a video of how the goal was scored on a Smart Phone of a fan.
Those reports, the success story of Daniel Laryea and a call by the Vice President of the Ghana Football Association, Mr Mark Addo on referees to aim higher has occasioned this opinion piece, to perhaps remind referees of their responsibilities in making the game attractive in Ghana and the duty of the FA to crack the whip on erring referees.
The FA Vice President, in presenting FIFA badges to 23 Ghanaian referees including Laryea for the 2026 football season, saying that, “I urge you (referees) to keep your heads high. There is a lot of expectation on you, and you must work hard to maintain the standards required”.
He continued: “Aspire for greatness and aim to become world-class referees. How you are perceived when your name comes up matters. Impartiality, fairness and top-class performance must always guide your work.”
In the face of what is happening, Addo’s call was appropriate and straight to the point.
Referees are vital cogs in the football ecosystem and their doing and undoing could make or unmake the efforts put in by a club. What can be more frustrating than a club scoring a genuine goal to be disallowed wrongly?
Many years ago when Asante Kotoko felt cheated and no one listen to them, they staged ‘ye bo biom’ which should not have a place in football. Senegal has just added an international dimension to it.
This is why the FA must sit up and check the names of referees which are becoming synonymous with undesirable officiating against some particular clubs.
By Andrew Nortey
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