Sports
Team Psychologist engaged for Black Stars
As part of moves to strengthen the Technical team of the senior male national football team, the Black Stars, the GFA has engaged Belgian Kris Perquy as Team Psychologist.
Kris Perquy is an accomplished Sports psychologist with a little over 17 years’ experience working with professionals in Sports to enhance their psychological well-being.
He worked with the Belgian Football Association for 15 years, helping to professionalize their Football psychology offering for players and Coaches. He developed a Coach Education program dubbed “Psychology for Football” which reached over 300 trainers.
His work also saw him working as Lead psychologist for a project to support elite Referees in their preparation and recovery.
Kris Perquy was a member of the coaching staff for Belgium’s Olympic athletes supporting the team during training camps and has worked as Mental Coach for professional football clubs such as KSV Cercle Brugge, RSC Anderlecht, Club Brugge and KV Oostende.
Perquy has also worked as Performance psychologist for a global E-Sports organisation and Mental Coach for Belgium’s national male and female Handball teams. He prepared top swimming talents for the Olympic Games as well.
Kris Perquy holds a Masters degree in Organisational Psychology from the University of Gent and a Certificate in brain-based coaching from the Neuroleadership Institute in London, United Kingdom.
He is the Founder of the International Network of Football Psychologists, an organisation that provides platforms for the sharing of best practices amongst mental coaches from the highest echelons of European Football.
With his depth of knowledge and expertise in the area of Sports Psychology, Kris Perquy co-authored “The Sport Brain”, a book on Sports Psychology, with Van Halewyck.
In appointing Kris Perquy, the Football Association is confident that the entire Black Stars team would have a topnotch professional in Sports Psychology to take care of the team’s needs in this regard. Kris is also expected to design and implement training sessions for Coaches and Team psychologists of the various national teams as well as Football clubs in Ghana.
GFA Communications
Ashantigold SC has terminated the contracts of three members of its technical team with immediate effect.
The affected officials are head coach and technical director Abdul Karim Zito, assistant coach Ernest Okyere, and goalkeepers’ trainer Robert Dabo.
The decision was announced in a statement signed by the club’s Chief Executive Officer, Edward Kwasi Akuoko.
According to the statement, the decision was taken following a consultative meeting by the Interim Management Committee on Monday, October 26, 2026.
The club says a caretaker coach has been appointed to steer the affairs of the team until a substantive coach/technical director is appointed.
Management expressed gratitude to the affected officials for their contribution and service to the team and wished them well in their future endeavours.
By Edem Mensah-Tsotorme
England captain Harry Kane says it was extra special to be presented with the Ballon d’Or by one of his childhood idols.
Kane made the comment after receiving the prestigious award from former Brazilian striker Ronaldo Nazario.
“Ronaldo was one of my idols growing up,” Kane said.
The Bayern Munich striker described the moment as surreal, being honoured by a player he looked up to as a young footballer.
Kane was announced as the 2026 Ballon d’Or winner on Monday, October 26, at the London Palladium, marking the 70th anniversary of the award and the first time the ceremony was held outside France.
The 33-year-old beat stiff competition from second-placed Kylian Mbappe and Barcelona youngster Lamine Yamal to win his first ever Ballon d’Or.
He becomes the first Englishman to win the coveted individual award in 25 years since Michael Owen in 2001, and only the fifth Englishman ever after Stanley Matthews, Bobby Charlton, Kevin Keegan and Owen.
He is also the first Bayern Munich player to win the award since Karl-Heinz Rummenigge in 1981.
Kane won the award after a remarkable season in which he scored 61 goals in 51 club matches, the most a Bayern player has ever scored in one campaign.
Including England matches, it was 73 goals plus eight assists in 65 matches. His 73 goals is the second-highest single-season total ever behind Lionel Messi’s 82 in 2011-12.
Despite the goal haul, Kane did not win the Champions League or World Cup, with Bayern losing 6-5 on aggregate to Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League semi-finals and England losing 2-1 to Argentina in the World Cup semi-final before finishing third.
The award was presented by Brazilian great Ronaldo Nazario, a two-time Ballon d’Or winner himself, adding what was described as a special dimension to Kane’s historic achievement.
By Edem Mensah-Tsotorme
