Sports
What Nana Yaw Amponsah did to get Kotoko job
It has been revealed that former Ghana Football Association (GFA) Vice President, George Afriyie was considered for the Asante Kotoko Chief Executive Officer job.
However, the position went to Nana Yaw Amponsah because he impressed the Board of Directors during his interview. According to the spokesman of the Kotoko board, Kwadwo Boateng Genfi, the club shortlisted George Afriyie and Nana Yaw Amponsah for the position.Nana Yaw Amponsah was first to appear before the board and he was so impressive that they took a decision to cancel Afriyie’s interview.The 12-member board was convinced Nana Yaw Amponsah was the right man for the job, hence decided to hand him a three-year contract.”What happened was that we met a few people and shortlisted two people. But later, one of them didn’t show much interest but we had given them an appointment for an interview to be conducted on the same day: one in the morning, one in the afternoon.”Nana Yaw came in the morning and he was so impressive that even though Manhyia had tasked us to do more head-hunting, we felt that he was the one we were looking for,” he pointed out.”We fell in love with him at the interview; he was seriously and highly impressive. Even the presentation he did during the interview was such that we decided not to bother ourselves to call any more people for interviews in order not to waste our time and that of those individuals.”According to Mr Genfi the board voted unanimously in Mr Amponsah’s favour.”It was unanimous – 12-0 – everyone on the board voted for him. It was only the voting for the timing of the announcement that was 11-1 because one person voted against it,” he noted.”When we decided on Nana Yaw, I personally called the other person (George Afriyie) to inform him about it.”I spoke with him personally, and honestly I was so amazed at his level of confidence. He is a fantastic gentleman.””He knows the inside-out of the game and I think he would also have been good but when we interviewed Nana Yaw we were satisfied with his performance,” Mr Genfi stated.”So it wasn’t a matter of rejection. No. We needed only one person and after Nana Yaw’s interview we decided not to go any further,” he emphasised.-Ghanaweb
Otto Addo is taking a calm and focused approach to the World Cup after being drawn against England, Panama, and Croatia in Group L.
“I look forward to every game as special,” he told ghanafa.org.
“Very important for us that we don’t underrate any team. For sure, England is the favourite in that group,” he acknowledged. “But for me as a coach, to be honest, I’m looking at each and every game equally.”
Addo is particularly focused on getting a strong start against Panama. “I’m hoping that we have a good start against Panama, that will be very, very crucial,” he said. “It will make the other games a little bit more relaxed and easier for the players psychologically. We will use the window of March for test matches, and then see,” he said.
Despite being a young team, Addo is proud of his squad’s progress. “I think we did very well in the qualifiers ” he said. “We didn’t lose a single official game, like the qualifying games, we did very well. We just played one draw and the rest we won, so we had quite a good year in 2025, after a bad year in 2024’’.
“Even though we have a very young team, we really, really did well, had a good harmony in the team, good union,” he added.
Ghana will open their FIFA World Cup campaign against Panama in Toronto on June 17 before facing England and Croatia in the other Group L matches on June 23 and 27 respectively.
The unbeaten away run of Accra Hearts of Oak will be put to the test tomorrow when they visit the Aliu Mahama Sports Stadium in Tamale to play as guests of Karela United. Described as one of the top-liners of the weekend games, the match will pitch one of the best home teams against the best away team, with their records on the line.
After playing a pulsating 2-2 draw with Kumasi Asante Kotoko last week, league leaders Medeama SC return to their fortress, the TnA Stadium, to welcome Berekum Chelsea FC in a clash of former league winners. Medeama have struggled in recent times to hold their own against the ‘Bibires’, losing their last four games both home and away.
However, according to Head Coach of Medeama, Tanko Ibrahim, that sequence of results will come to an end tomorrow as they look to crawl out of the claws of their opponents with victory. Eleven points separate the sides, with Berekum Chelsea lying a distant 14th position on the log. They have been a pale shadow of themselves this season, and it remains to be seen if Coach Samuel Boadu’s side can keep the bragging rights over the Yellow and Mauves in what has been described as one of their worse starts to a league season.
Today, second-placed Kpando Heart of Lions will trek to the Kwame Kyei Sports Complex in Abrankese to play as guests of struggling Nations FC. Having suffered a 1-0 away loss to Basake Holy Stars in their last game, Nations FC would look to pick all three points to better their current 12th position.
In other games, the Hohoe Sports Stadium will come alive as new boys Hohoe United FC welcome Kumasi Asante Kotoko. The Nii Adjei Kraku II Sports Complex in Tema will host the Vision FC versus Young Apostles FC game, the Tuba Astro Turf will host the Dreams FC versus Bechem United FC clash, while the Nsenkyire Sports Arena will host the Samartex FC versus Bibiani Gold Stars game. High-riding Aduana FC will sort things out with Basake Holy Stars at the Nana Agyeman Badu I Park in Dormaa.
By Raymond Ackumey
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