Sports
Keep AGOSU flame burning
STORIES about Accra Great Olympics—once a formidable football club in the Greater Accra Region and second only to their city rivals, Accra Hearts of Oak—no longer command interest from fans. Narratives about the club are now presented as mockeries or sarcasms, rather than any serious agenda like aiming to win the Ghana Premier League (GPL), the FA Cup or even qualify to any of the CAF Clubs championship.
With accolades, Olympics will occupy the top spot without struggle. Interesting jargons are coined easily and aligned with the club and it is embraced by all.
“Olympics can fall 10 times but will rise up the same number of times. Olympics supporters represent hope and longsuffering. Despite the many disappointments, supporters of the club have the hope that one day, the team would rise up. This is what has kept the club going.”
Rev Dr Odonkor was on point on the Olympics situation which managers of the team appear to have no clue as to how to rescue it. But in his view, there’s still hope for the club. Matches are played in virtually empty stadiums.
But according to Rev Dr Odonkor, giving up on Olympics must not be an option. Questions however, on the lips of many is how long fans can continue to endure the hardship as things deteriorate with time.
Just a day after the sermon encouraging followers to remain hopeful, the worst happened as two big wigs of the club, Mr. Kudjoe Fianoo, an experienced football administrator, and Richard Alagidede resigned from their roles as Chief Executive and General Manager, respectively. The action of the two has not surprised majority of their followers—knowing their calibre, what they stand for and a perceived structural defect of the club.
Such is the unfortunate situation of Ghana’s Wonder Club. Weeks in and out, the club’s fans sit on tenterhooks for 90 minutes watching the team struggle to avoid relegation from the second tier of Ghana football—Division One League. On a league table of clubs, in all of these, the fans of the club bear the taunts of opposing supporters. One dares not wear an Olympics replica jersey and you become an instant hero for displaying courage.
The Olympics situation has even become a subject of study as was witnessed at the Osu Eben-Ezer Presbyterian Church last Sunday, where the district minister in charge, Rev Dr. Odonkor, expertly captured the Olympics story in a sermon titled ‘The AGOSU PHILOSOPHY.’
In the sermon to mark his induction as District Minister, Rev Dr Odonkor, a staunch Olympics fan, described the club as a ‘reservoir of hope’ and the supporters as longsuffering—a narrative with accolades, Olympics will occupy the top spot without struggle.
The problem of the Wonder Club has been with finance, making it extremely difficult to sign high-profile players whose influence can affect the club’s fortunes. Saddest of all, the club has lost its appeal to both fans and players as matches are played in virtually empty stadiums. Therefore, there must be no turning back. This is certainly the time for all and sundry to join forces to rescue the club that is known as the ‘Landlords.’
In this difficult time, board and management must take a second look at its structure and mend the parts that are broken. As the men in the boardroom, they know and understand the problems facing the club. Currently, the failure of the club is at their doorstep and if Olympics sunk further, they would go down in history as those that extinguished the flame on the ‘Dade’ touch. If it means getting new people with fresh ideas, then so be it.
By Andrew Nortey
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The national U-17 female team, the Black Maidens, have arrived in Rabat from their pre-camp base in Casablanca to begin their campaign at the 2026 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup.
The team will open their Group C fixtures against Norway on Sunday, October 18, at the Mohammed VI Football Complex. They will then face Brazil on Thursday, October 22, before wrapping up the group stage against Canada on Saturday, October 24.
During their two-week training camp in Casablanca, the technical team tested the squad’s readiness with two international friendlies against China and Kenya.
The Black Maidens are returning to the global showpiece after missing the last edition, aiming to build on a proud record that includes a bronze medal in 2012 and three quarter-final appearances.
The team is expected to hold its first training session in Rabat on Wednesday as it puts finishing touches to preparations for the opener against Norway.
By Edem Mensah-Tsotorme
IN modern football, the final whistle doesn’t signal the end of the show; it signals the intermission.
The Top five European Leagues (Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga, Serie A, and Ligue 1) have mastered a brutal truth of the digital age: you don’t just sell the match; you sell the marathon.
By weaponising transfer window tension, season reviews, and microscopic highlight reels, they’ve turned 90 minutes of sport into a 24/7/365 content vortex.
Meanwhile, back home, the Ghana Premier League (GPL) is haemorrhaging relevance not because the talent isn’t there but because the storytelling is dead.
The Football Association’s apathy is only rivalled by its hypocrisy.
The European Blueprint: Selling the ‘Appetite’
Why do fans tune into a random mid-table La Liga clash on a Friday night? Because they’ve been primed. Across the summer, broadcasters and clubs drip-feed ‘transfer sagas’ like high-stakes soap operas.
Will the star leave? Who is the mystery medical? This tension creates a parasocial investment that transcends the pitch.
Paired with this are season-review documentaries and hyper-curated game highlights tailored for TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube. These aren’t just goal clips; they are tactical breakdowns, sideline theatrics, and VAR controversies packaged into digestible and emotional bites.
This strategy has inflated broadcasting rights to astronomical sums (the Premier League’s recent domestic deal hit £6.7 billion).
They know that if you feed the audience year-round, they will binge-watch when it matters.
The GPL Vacuum: No Sponsor, No Story
Now, overlay this blueprint onto the Ghana Premier League. It is a stark, barren contrast.
The league is poorly run, lacking a headline sponsor to give it financial muscle or marketing prestige. Without that corporate backing, the media machine grinds to a halt.
The transfer market, which should be the peak of offseason intrigue, is a ghost town. We hear about signings, but the transfer fee is universally undisclosed.” We only get the contract length.
This kills the narrative. In Europe, a €100 million move generates weeks of debate; in Ghana, a move generates a one-line social media post, devoid of gravity. Fans cannot gauge ambition, nor can they measure a club’s financial muscle.
Most damningly, there are no reviews from the broadcasting rights holders. No glossy season-compilation DVDs. No weekly magazine shows dissecting past campaigns to build hype for the next.
The Broadcasting Right Holders (BRHs) treat the GPL as an obligation to air live, not as an IP to monetize through content. The league goes dormant the moment the trophy is lifted.
And the FA? They seem unconcerned. There is no strategic blue • A scene from the Ghana Premier League print to pump these ‘stuffs’ into the digital ecosystem. They treat the league’s media output like an afterthought, ignoring that a lack of online noise equals a lack of bums on seats.
The Black Stars Paradox: The Hypocrisy of Production
Here is the crushing irony that exposes the FA’s priorities. When the Black Stars assemble for a World Cup qualifier or an AFCON match, the narrative flips overnight.
Suddenly, the budget for proper camera operators and videographers appears from thin air. We get cinematic drone shots, multi-angle slow-motion replays, tunnel cams, and emotional post-match interviews.
Every moment, every tackle, every save, every passionate fan in the stands is captured in vivid, broadcast-ready quality. The national team gets the full ‘European treatment.’
This reveals a devastating double standard. The FA treats the Black Stars as the sole marketable asset, forgetting that the GPL is the engine room that produces these stars.
By diverting all production value to the national team while starving the domestic league of visual prestige, they are cannibalizing their own foundation.
The Verdict
You cannot build a football culture on national team fixtures alone.
Europe thrives because they understand that content is the currency of fandom.
Until the Ghana FA secures a headline sponsor, enforces transparent transfer disclosures (to fuel debate), and mandates that broadcasting partners produce engaging season reviews and highlight packages, the GPL will remain a hidden gem rather than a sparkling crown.
The players are there. The passion is there. But if the FA continues to save its best camera angles for the Black Stars while leaving the Premier League in the dark, they aren’t just failing the clubs; they are starving the very appetite they desperately need to feed
By Leslie Agyemang
