Accra Great Olympics midfielder Gladson Awako says his target for the season is to earn a call up to the national team.

Awako, who is the captain of the side has been magnificent for the 'Dade' lads in the ongoing season.

The former U-20 World Cup winner starred in Olympics impressive 3-0 win over Legon Cities at the Accra Sports Stadium in matchday two of the 2020/21 Ghana Premier League.

“I want the team to secure a good place in the league and personally I hope to get a call up to any of the national teams,” he said in an interview.

On his outstanding performance of the season, he said “I have been taking care of myself and now I am more disciplined as a player. When you are growing in the game, you get more experience and also discipline matters too.”

He added that Great Olympics have been consistent also because of the decision to stick with Annor Walker as head coach.

The team had changed three managers in the truncated league season, which according to him destabilises the team when it happens.

“In a team, there should always be consistency and its good Coach Annor Walker stayed because changing of coaches didn’t help us.”

Great Olympics face Asante Kotoko in their next game in the Ghana Premier League.

From Sammy Heywood Okine

Burgeoning boxer Samuel Takyi “Ring Warrior” is optimistic of winning Ghana’s first gold medal at the Olympics.

The 19-year-old amateur boxer secured a place at the rescheduled Olympics games after he defeated Uganda’s Isaac Masembe at the Olympics African Qualifiers in Senegal earlier this year.

Since the inception of the Olympics in 1952, Ghana is yet to win a gold medal in any sport and has won only 4 medals (1 silver and 3 bronze). All the medals except 1 were won by boxers.

Clement Quartey won Silver at the 1960 Olympics in Rome, Eddie Blay won Bronze in Tokyo 1964, Prince Amartey as well won bronze in Munich 1972. The other medal was won by Ghana’s soccer team in 1992.

The featherweight boxer is aware of these records and has vowed to win Ghana’s first gold medal in the competition.

“I’m going to Tokyo to improve myself and I have already told Ghana I’m going to bring the gold home, we haven’t won a gold medal at the Olympics and I’m going to do this,” he told Enoch Adadevoh on KFM TV.

“I want to tell the President, Nana Addo Dankwah Akufo Addo and every big person involved to help us so we can prepare well and bring the medals to Ghana.

“And to every single Ghanaian, pray for me, I know this is my first time going to the Olympic games and I’m not going to Tokyo to joke, I’m going to bring the medal home,” Samuel added.

When quizzed whether the postponement of the Olympics from July 2020 to July 2021 due to Covid-19 has affected his preparations, he stated that it is a blessing rather than a curse for him.

“Yes I think it is good for me because I’ll get to train more and prepare well for the Olympics”.

The young boxer is one of two Ghanaian boxers who will be representing Ghana at the 2021 Olympics in Tokyo. The other boxer is Suleman Tetteh, a flyweight boxer.

He made special mention of his publicist and media promoter, Mr. Sammy Heywood Okine aka ‘Genral One’ as well as the management and technical staff of the Ghana Amateur Boxing Federatin

By Mahama Shaibu

Karela Utd gets new astro-turf plus $300,000 sponsorship from GNPC

Karela United have announced a whopping $300,000 sponsorship deal from the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC).

In the past year, the club has benefitted immensely from GNPC from the upgrading of the Anyinase Crosby Awuah Memorial Park to other needed interventions.

At the handover ceremony of the stadium, the Chief Executive Officer of GNPC, Dr K.K. Sarpong, announced a mouthwatering deal for Karela United for a period of three years.

“On behalf of the Board of Directors and Management of GNPC, I announce with great pleasure that from the 2020/2021 premier league season, GNPC has assumed the role of Title Sponsor of Karela United FC, which will use this park we are here to commission as its home base,” the Chief Executive of GNPC, Dr Sarpong said.

“GNPC is providing USD100,000 annually for three years, as title sponsor to finance Karela FC’s activities, in areas spelt out under a memorandum of understanding we have signed with the club,” he said.

Justifying the sponsorship and the building of the AstroTurf park for the club, Dr Sarpong said it comes as an opportunity for the GNPC to contribute to the development of Ghanaian youth.

“This affords GNPC the opportunity to contribute to the harnessing of talents and skills development of our youth as well as building social cohesion through football, the passion of the nation,” he added.

Each year, the club will receive $100,000 from GNPC to help in the running and development of the Premier League outfit.

GNPC has already upgraded the Crosby Awuah Memorial Park by laying an artificial pitch.

From Sammy Heywood Okine

The adjudicatory chamber of the FIFA independent Ethics Committee has just declared Mr. Ahmad Ahmad, President of the Confederation Africaine de Football (CAF), and Vice-President of FIFA, responsible for having acted in violation of the FIFA Code of ethics.

Consequently, the adjudicatory chamber banned him from all football-related activities (administrative, sports and other) at the national and international levels for a period of five years.

CAF and CAF President take note of this decision which puts Mr. Ahmad Ahmad in a position of no longer being able to exercise his responsibilities.

In accordance with its statutes, CAF announces that the current interim of Constant Selemani Omari as President of CAF is extended.

The Confederation Africaine de Football (CAF), which is concerned about the reputational consequences of this long procedure, maintains the schedule of all its activities and programs.

Source: CAF

The Cabo Verde Olympic Committee has become the first National Olympic Committee (NOC) in Africa to join the UN Sports for Climate Action Framework.

This was hot on the heels of recent calls on African Sports Governing Bodies to take proactive steps to prioritize the UN Sports for Climate Action Framework initiative

So far, just a handful of sports organizations in Africa have signed up as participants of the initiative.

They are: Botswana’s Palapye All Stars Football Club, Kick4life in Lesotho, Whizzkids United Football Club in South Africa, Rivergrass United FC in Botswana, the ‘Burundi Rugby League-Rugby A XIII’ and the Cabo Verde Olympic Committee. Twenty three (23) months after it was unveiled in December 2018, the UN Sports for Climate Action Framework has garnered 168 signatories across the globe at the time of publishing this article.

The Cabo Verde Olympic Committee is the 166th signatory that has affirmed its commitment to:

The Five (5) Principles of the UN Sports for Climate Action Framework.

1. Undertake systematic efforts to promote greater environmental responsibility.
2. Reduce overall climate impact.
3. Educate for Climate.
4. Promote sustainable and responsible consumption.
5. Advocate for Climate.

By signing the declaration sporting organizations support the goals of the Paris Agreement in reducing the global temperature rise to 1.5 Degree Celsius above pre-order industrial levels.

The cabo Verde Olympic Committee has also promised to construct an eco-friendly (sustainable) headquarters for it’s activities. The headquarters promise to be one of the biggest projects undertake in accordance with the the initiative.

Earlier this year, the COC and Praia City Council agreed a deal for a piece of land 1,690 metres squared in size to be transferred to the National Olympic Committee free of charge.

That is where the headquarters will be built.

Cabo verde, an island nation is particularly vulnerable to the climate change, especially rising sea levels.

The Sports for Climate Action Framework

The Sports for Climate Action initiative aims to provide sports organizations with a forum where organizations can pursue climate action in a consistent and mutually supportive fashion by learning from each other, disseminating good practices, lessons learned, developing new tools, and collaborating on areas of mutual interest.

The initiative further aims at supporting and guiding sports actors in achieving climate change goals.

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, UNFCCC’s Sports for Climate Action Framework was launched by the global sports community and UN Climate change at the COP24 Conference in Katowise, Poland in December 2018. The initiative seeks to bring sports organizations, fans, athletes, and teams together to raise awareness and action to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement.

The initiative further aims to drive emissions reduction in sports operations and tap the popularity and passion of sports to engage millions of fans.

By Dela Ahiawor

The Confederation of African Football [CAF] have announced that CAF 1st Vice president, Mr Constant Selemani Omari’s position as interim President until March 2021.

This comes after the world football governing body, FIFA, banned CAF President Ahmad Ahmad for five years for financial misconduct.

According to a FIFA statement, the Malagasy, who had been under investigation, has been charged for breaching 4 acts of the FIFA code of conduct.

Following the announcement, the African governing body announced that Constant Omari will take charge of the institution until presidential elections in March 2021.

“In accordance with its statutes, CAF announces that the current interim of Mr. Constant Selemani Omari as President of CAF is extended.” reads a statement on CAF‘s website.

The Congolese FA president had been put in interim charge of Africa’s football governing body since November 13, until the end of the month after Ahmad Ahmad contracted coronavirus and was recovering at home.

In July 2019, he was nominated to be the first vice president of CAF.

He will remain in charge of the Confederation of African Football until a new president is elected in March 2020.

From Sammy Heywood Okine

RE: Man Dies While Fixing Party Flag On A Light Pole

The attention of La Dade-Kotopon Municipal Assembly has been drawn to a video

circulating on social media and also in the main stream media with the caption “Man dies whiles fixing Party Flag on a light pole”.

We wish to state that the deceased, Mr. Richard Buenortey, aged 38, was an

Electrician of the La Dade-Kotopon Municipal Assembly. Mr. Buenortey performed his duties professionally and diligently and supervised all electrical contract works including MiDA Electrification project carried out within the Municipality.

He and his team were tasked to undertake an installation of the Assembly’s share of 300 streetlight bulbs from the Greater Accra Regional Coordinating Council. They commenced the installation works on 12th November, 2020. Until his untimely death at Labone on Wednesday, 18th November, 2020, the team had installed 276 streetlight bulbs in six out of ten Electoral Areas in the Municipality.

By this release, we wish to set the records straight that, Richard Buenortey died in

the line of duty, and that the general public should ignore the news making rounds

on Social media and in the mainstream media that “A man dies while fixing a party

flag on a light pole”. This caption purports to twist the fact of his unfortunate death

must be ignored.

As it stands the cause of his death, contrary to what is being circulated on social and in the mainstream media is currently unknown, and we are awaiting the autopsy report from the hospital.

By this statement, the La Dade-Kotopon Municipal Assembly wishes to extend our

condolences to his family, staff, friends and loved ones.

Indeed, we have lost an illustrious staff. May his soul rest in perfect peace.

Thank You.

HON. SOLOMON KOTEY NIKOI

MUNICIPAL CHIEF EXECUTIVE

From Sammy Heywood Okine

As part of the efforts to deliver swift and effective service to all Clubs and Stakeholders, the Ghana Football Association (GFA) has been offering same day service to Clubs which request for Introductory Letters to assist their work.

When a request is made for an introductory letter with all relevant documents attached before 3pm, the GFA Introductory letter will be delivered same day, but when the necessary documents are presented after 3pm, the letter will be delivered on the next working day.

Application for an Introductory Letter for player or official in the Premier, Women’s and Division One League must be accompanied by the club request letter, foreign club invitation letter, detail page of passport containing the picture and date of birth of the player or official which can be compared to the data in the FA system.

Applications from players under the auspices of the Regional Football Association (RFA) must come with an additional signed letter from the RFA.

Same day service applies to applicants (clubs) in need of letters to attach to documents of foreign players in order to secure working permit from the Ghana Immigration Service.

Again, application for Player Status has also been digitalized. Applicant are advised to submit their request online and do not have to travel from far to deliver letter in person.

All these services could be accessed through the GFA official email, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and once an approval is given, letters could be picked up at the Secretariat.

The GFA is taking these steps to render excellent services to Clubs and Stakeholders to enhance their activities.

GFA

The Ghana Football Association as part of measures to protect the Integrity of the game, has asked the Regional Football Association (RFA), Premier League Clubs, Women’s League Clubs and the Division one league to appoint Integrity Officers.

The Football Association is introducing this to help prevent all methods or practices, such as corruption, doping or match manipulation, which might jeopardize the integrity of matches, competitions, players, officials or give rise to abuse of association football.

The World governing football body, FIFA introduced the Integrity Initiative with the main objective of promoting the integrity and the protection of football matches and competitions.

This means promoting integrity internally and to the public at all times, as well as protecting football matches and competitions against match manipulation as far as possible and under all circumstances.

The RFA and clubs who are yet to appoint their various integrity officers are urged to submit their names and contact details to the GFA Integrity office.

The GFA Compliance and Integrity Officer has been working with FIFA Integrity to build the capacity of stakeholders in this area. This season has already seen integrity training for Referees, Match Commissioners, Venue Media Officers and Club Safety and Security Officers.

GFA Communications

The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has released approval notice on venues submitted by Kumasi Asante Kotoko SC and Ashantigold SC for their upcoming CAF Champions League and CAF Confederations Cup matches respectively.

Asante Kotoko SC  kick start the Africa campaign this weekend on the road to FC Nouadhibou in Mauritania while Ashantigold  SC stays in Obuasi  and welcomes Salitas FC. 

After thorough checks on the various venues submitted by both clubs, the CAF Club Licensing Committee has approved the following;

ASHANTIGOLD SC LEN CLAY SPORTS STADIUM – OBUASI

CAPE COAST SPORTS STADIUM – CAPE COAST APPROVED

ASANTE KOTOKO SC ACCRA SPORTS STADIUM – ACCRA APPROVED ALIU MAHAMA SPORTS STADIUM, TAMALE APPROVED

GFA Communications