Kamaldeen Sulemana made his first Premier League start for Southampton at St. Mary's and impressed with his performance, even though the team lost 2-1 to Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Despite the defeat, Sulemana shone as he made 8 successful dribbles out of 13 attempts during the game. This impressive feat made him the first player this season in the Premier League to complete eight dribbles in a single match.

The 20-year-old Ghanaian has been making waves in the football world and has caught the eye of many European clubs. His debut in the Premier League came during a half-time substitution in the match against Brentford, where he showed flashes of brilliance, leading to his start against Wolves. Head coach Nathan Jones was convinced of Sulemana's potential and started him upfront in a 3-5-2 formation alongside Paul Onuachu.

Although Wolves attacker Adama Traore had the second-most dribbles in the game, he was still four successful dribbles behind Sulemana's impressive performance. The Ghanaian's energy and hunger on the field were evident and his display has only added to the growing hype surrounding him.

The former Rennes attacker’s 8 dribbles was the most completed by a player in their first Premier League start since Paul Pogba in 2016 (9 v Southampton).

This record comes as no surprise as the Ghanaian was amongst the top two percent of the most prolific dribblers in the French Ligue 1.

By Joel Bortey

John Dramani Mahama Donates GH8000 To Ghana Youth Cyclists Who Won Bronze Medals

Former President John Dramani  Mahama today donated an amount of GH8000 to the youth men and women who won bronze medals in the team time trial race in the ongoing 19th CAC African Road Cycling Championships. He has extended invitation to meet the team after the championship.

Source Nana Adwoa Kwofie

She has just run a blazing PB of 22.36s to win the women's 200m at the Tyson Invitational in Fayetteville, the fastest time in the world this year!

She breaks the National & African Record in the process! Wow!

Favour Chukwuka Ofili (born 31 December 2002) is a Nigerian track and field athlete specializing in the 200 metres and 400 metres sprints.

She is the 2019 African Games silver medalist in the 400 metres. She is also the 2019 African Youth Champion in the 200 and 400 metres. She holds the National record and the National under 20 record over the 200m with a time of 21.96, thus making her the first Nigerian female athlete to run under the 22 seconds barrier. She ran 10.93s in the 100m at the LSU Invitational in Baton Rouge, LA on April 30, 2022 and became the first female NCAA athlete to run sub 22s and sub 11s.

At just 16, she represented her country at the 2019 World Relays in Yokohama running in the 4 × 100 m and 4 × 400 m relays

From Sammy Heywood Okine

Asante Kotoko have secured the services of former Hearts of Oak defender Mohammed Alhassan on a free transfer.

The transfer was officially confirmed by Kotoko on Thursday, although no further information was given.

Alhassan parted ways with Hearts of Oak earlier this year due to a disagreement with the club's management.

During his time with the Phobians, he was a key contributor to the team's successes, helping them to win two FA Cup titles and ending their long wait for a Ghana Premier League championship in 2021.

The acquisition of Alhassan has given Kotoko reason to be optimistic about their chances of securing a domestic double.

Ghanasoccernet

Real Madrid beat Al-Hilal in a remarkable eight-goal FIFA Club World Cup final in Rabat to win the trophy for a record-extending fifth time.

Vinicius Jr and Federico Valverde put European champions Real 2-0 up and Moussa Marega gave Al-Hilal hope before Vinicius set up Karim Benzema's goal.

Valverde netted again and Luciano Vietto scored before Vinicius' second.

Vietto swivelled in the box before firing in a second to for 5-3 but Al-Hilal rarely looked like coming back.

Carlo Ancelotti's Real added to their four cups from 2014 to 2018 - and ensured European teams have won the past 10 editions of the tournament.

They had brushed off Egyptian side Al Ahly 4-1 in the semi-finals, the round the European champions always enter the tournament.

Asian champions Al-Hilal, who are managed by former Oxford United boss Ramon Diaz, beat Brazilians Flamengo in the semis to become the first Saudi team to reach the final.

But despite the double from former Fulham striker Vietto they could not become the first Asian team to lift the trophy.

Chelsea won last year's final but were not able to defend it as only reigning continental champions - and champions of the host country - are invited.

FIFA plans to change the format of the tournament from June 2025 to feature 32 teams and be held every four years.

FIFA

Final three nominees for The Best FIFA Women’s Player, The Best FIFA Men’s Player and The FIFA Puskás Award revealed

FIFA has announced the final nominees in the women’s and men’s player category

Finalists for The FIFA Puskás Award have been revealed

Final nominees for all award categories now announced and the winners will be crowned on Monday, 27 February 2023 in Paris

FIFA has announced the finalists for both The Best FIFA Women’s Player and The Best FIFA Men’s Player awards as well as  for The FIFA Puskás Award ahead of the 2022 edition of The Best FIFA Football Awards™.

The final three nominees for The Best FIFA Women’s Player are (in alphabetical order):

Beth Mead (England / Arsenal WFC)

Alex Morgan (USA / Orlando Pride / San Diego Wave)

Alexia Putellas (Spain / FC Barcelona)

The final three nominees for The Best FIFA Men’s Player are (in alphabetical order):

Karim Benzema (France / Real Madrid CF)

Kylian Mbappé (France / Paris Saint-Germain FC)

Lionel Messi (Argentina / Paris Saint-Germain FC)

These two awards are given to the outstanding players in women’s and men’s football as voted for by an international jury respectively comprising the current coaches of all women’s/men’s national teams (one per team), the current captains of all women’s/men’s national teams (one per team), one specialist journalist from each territory represented by a national team and fans registered on FIFA.com. The full voting and award process is detailed in the Rules of Allocation.

The final three nominees for The FIFA Puskás Award are (in alphabetical order):

Marcin Oleksy (Poland): Warta Poznań v. Stal Rzeszów [PZU Amp Futbol Ekstraklasa] (6 November 2022)

Dimitri Payet (France): Olympique de Marseille v. PAOK Thessaloniki FC [UEFA Europa Conference League] (7 April 2022)

Richarlison (Brazil): Brazil v. Serbia [FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022] (24 November 2022)

All the winners of The Best FIFA Football Awards 2022 will be crowned at a special ceremony on Monday, 27 February 2023 in Paris. 

To keep up with the latest news about The Best FIFA Football Awards 2022, check out FIFA+  and FIFA’s accounts on Facebook, YouTube and Twitter.

FIFA

Accra Great Olympics have sign young  top striker, Robert Saba aka ‘Mamprobi Star’.

He is nephew of Robert and Christian Saba who played for Accra Hearts of Oak and the national teams.

He played in Rwanda for AS Kigali and Kiyovo where he scored fantastic and classic goals.

The new sensation is now back home to push up again.

He told Yours Truly, he wants to be remembered as one of the great players in the GPL.

We wish him well.. Agosu Mashie.

By Sammy Heywood Okine

The Minister for Youth and Sports, Hon. Mustapha Ussif has indicated that Ghana has been in dire need of policy direction for the development of sports in the country.

He made these remarks at the opening ceremony of the consultative workshop organised at the Mensvic Grand Hotel in Accra on Wednesday 8th February, 2023 by the Ministry of Youth and Sports to solicit for inputs from stakeholders.

He revealed that the absence of a sports policy or programme to inform sports development and sports for business was a dent in our sports journey,  considering the international reputation our athletes have built for the nation in various sporting disciplines.

The Minister added that his ministry has been working very hard to correct some of our national sports infrastructure deficiencies to facilitate participation in sports and physical activities.

According to the Minister,  Ghana is blessed with abundant human capital as far as Sports is concerned adding that it was very imperative to put the policy together to guide and enhance skills and talents across the country.

He expressed his confidence that the draft document will be enriched considering the calibre of the stakeholders who he believed will add their ideas to make it comprehensive.

On his part, the Chief Director of the Ministry of Youth and Sports,  Alhaji Hafiz Adam noted that the development of the National Sports Policy had long been on the drawing board dating back to the colonial era.

According to him,  Sports and physical activities by their impact contributes to the overall development of the society and it's an integral part of socio-  economic development of our nation.

The policy seeks to enhance governance and leadership of sports federations,  develop skills of sports technical experts, enhance talent detection and development of sports infrastructure, building strategic alliance with stakeholders at the regional and continental level and overall increase participation of private sector investment and improving Coordination.

He further noted that the commitment and passion expressed by the participants to the development of sports in our country cannot be overemphasised.

Source MYS

Mr. Ben Nunoo Mensah, President of the Ghana Olympic Committee (GOC) and member of the Local Organising Committee (LOC) for Accra 2023 is sure Ghana will host the 13th African Games.

Speaking on Joy Sports with Ace Presenter, Nat Attoh last Saturday, he said despite the delay in putting up some modern structures for the Games, he is optimistic that Ghana will host the rest of Africa in August 2023.

He said few hitches and challenges like Covid-19 and the ownership of the Games which is a struggle between the African Union (AU) and ANOCA, the African National Olympic Committees Association have caused the delay in planning program and construction of new facilities, however he knows Ghana will host the Games.

"A meeting will be held in Addis Ababa with President of Ghana Nana Akufo-Addo attending,  where am sure all the differences will be resolved " he assured

The University of Ghana, Legon has been chosen as the venue for Athletics Rugby and Football as well as Games Village, while some most sports will take place at the main Games center at Borteyman where new buildings are springing up as the proposed site for a Sports University.

Over 50 nations in Africa will converge in the capital of Ghana, Accra to compete in more than 20 sporting activities and events in the festival which has been tagged as qualifier to the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, France.

By Sammy Heywood Okine

The President of the Ghana Olympic Committee (GOC), Mr. Ben Nunoo Mensah in his 2023 New Year message, announced that work on a modern sports facility at Amasaman in the Greater Accra region has commenced with the arrival of initial funds from the OlympiAfrica Foundation.

The refreshing news was well received and greeted with high expectations at the last Annual General Congress of the GOC in December 2022.

President Nunoo Mensah shared the exciting news about the Amasaman Project by first stating that the GOC, having now acquired full and legal ownership of the 16.5-acre land at Amasaman, would commence work on the ground.

Thanks to continous dialogue with the IOC, ANOCA and the OlympAfrica Foundation, at the beginning of November 2022, the respective bodies showed their commitment to get the project going by sending an amount of $100,000.00 to the GOC account for the commencement of work.

According to Mr. Ben Nunoo Mensah, the Board has put together a five-member committee chaired by the Deputy Treasurer of the GOC to see to the initial actualization and progress of the entire Sports Complex Project.

He said the facility has been christened “GOC/OlympAfrica Centre for Juvenile Sports Excellence” and in the next few days, other members, stakeholders and the media will be invited for the grand sod-cutting ceremony.

Mr. Nunoo Mensah emphasized that through engagements, the GOC/CGA, together with the National Federations and other Stakeholders, are making frantic preparations to put in place structures and that will ensure Ghana’s successful preparation for, and participation in upcoming games.

Some of the games slated for 2023 and beyond are the ANOCA Zone Three Games – Accra, African Youth Games – Congo Brazzaville, African Beach Games – Tunisia, ANOC World Beach Games – Bali, Indonesia, African Games – Accra 2023, Commonwealth Youth Games – Trinidad & Tobago. and Paris 2024 Olympic Games – Paris.

GOC Communications