Swiss Super League side, St. Gallen, have announced the signing of Ghanaian defender Stephan Ambrosius.
The Black Stars defender joins the Swiss outfit on a three-year deal which will keep him at the club until 2027.
Ambrosius joins St. Gallen as a free agent following the end of his contract with German side Hamburger SV.
The Ghanaian joined Hamburger in 2012 and played through all of the junior ranks before making it to the senior teams.
The central defender made 18 appearances for the club last season in Bundesliga 2 having returned from his loan spell at Karlsruher SC at the end of the 2022/23 campaign.
Ambrosius has been capped twice for the Black Stars both coming in friendly games last year.
The Ghanaian will don jersey number 5 at his new club and share the same locker room with national teammates Lawrence Ati-Zigi and Musah Nuhu.
Asante Kotoko striker Kalo Ouattara has bid farewell to the club following his release, part of a massive clear-out that saw 18 players let go in less than 24 hours.
This significant overhaul is part of a comprehensive rebuild process aimed at revitalizing the team for the upcoming season.
The 22-year-old Ouattara, who joined Asante Kotoko at the start of the season from Berekum Chelsea, featured in 24 games and scored four goals, including one in the final game of the season.
Despite his efforts, the Porcupine Warriors finished the season in a disappointing sixth place with 49 points, 12 behind champions Samartex.
In a heartfelt message shared on social media, Ouattara expressed his gratitude to the club, his teammates, and the fans, with a special mention to the club’s video analysts.
Read the full note below:
“I want to take a moment to express my heartfelt gratitude to each of you as I prepare to move on from my time with Asante Kotoko.
I want to say a special thank you to the video Analysts of Asante Kotoko for their motivation every time and their dedication in making me a better player.
While my journey here has come to an end, the experiences and memories we’ve shared will forever hold a special place in my heart.
To my fellow players, it has been an honor to stand alongside each of you on the field.
And to our loyal supporters, your unwavering enthusiasm and encouragement have fueled our determination and made every match a memorable experience. Your presence at the games and your messages of support online have meant the world to me and the entire team.
As I embark on the next chapter of my journey, I will carry with me the lessons learned during my time at Kotoko.
Warm regards,
Kalo Ouattara”
Ouattara’s departure is part of the club’s strategic plan to rebuild and strengthen the squad for a more competitive performance in the next season.
Asante Kotoko coach Prosper Narteh Ogum admits the club had an unpleasant 2023-2024 season after they ended the campaign trophyless.
Kotoko struggled throughout the season, enduring a streak of seven matches without a win at one point. They ultimately finished in 6th place, accumulating 49 points with a record of 14 wins, 12 defeats, and seven draws.
Reflecting on their performance, Coach Ogum expressed his disappointment over the team’s inability to secure victories, particularly in their home matches.
“It was an unpleasant season. What we wanted to achieve, we couldn’t in terms of performance on the pitch. I think we fell below expectations,” Ogum stated on the club’s channel.
He pointed out that the outcome of several matches was a key reason for their failure to clinch the league title.
“Especially some of the games we lost and drew at home. Typically, Asante Kotoko shouldn’t have lost or drawn. If you look at these games, they are the ones that prevented us from winning the trophy,” he explained.
Ogum also highlighted the impact of their home game results on the fans’ morale.
“The joy of the fans is at Baba Yara because when you win, the fans become excited, and because we couldn’t win, it made everything unpleasant,” he added.
In response to the disappointing season, the club has taken drastic action by parting ways with 18 players, including goalkeeper Ibrahim Danlad.
These changes reflect a significant overhaul as Kotoko aim to improve their performance in the upcoming season.
Ghana youth international Mathew Anim Cudjoe has left Scottish side, Dundee United, after both parties failed to reach an agreement over a renewal.
The attacking midfielder’s contract with the club expired at the end of the season and there were ongoing talks over a possible renewal.
However, after extended negotiations between the player’s entourage and the club, Dundee United have agreed to part ways with the exciting winger.
The Tangerines confirmed the departure of Anim Cudjoe on the club’s website on Tuesday, June 18.
“We can confirm Mathew Cudjoe has decided to call time on his Tannadice career. The club made an offer which reflected our vision for Mathew in both financial and footballing terms however the Ghanaian has decided to pursue his career elsewhere,” the statement read.
During his time at the club, the Ghanaian scored five goals in 46 games for the club featuring in the Premiership and the Championship.
Serbian champions, Red Star Belgrade, has announced the signing of Ghanaian international Ebenezer Annan.
The left-back joins the club in a permanent deal from Serie A side Bologna, penning a three-year deal. The contract also has an option for him to extend for another year.
The defender spent the 2023/24 season on loan at Novi Pazar in the Serbian Superliga where his performances impressed many clubs including Red Star Belgrade.
“Red Star continues with activities when it comes to the summer transfer window and we are very pleased to announce that Ebenezer Annan has signed a three plus one-year contract with our club,” wrote the club announcing Amman’s arrival ahead of the new season.
Annan, through his impressive displays at Novi Pazar, was called up into the national team in March for the friendlies against Nigeria and Uganda.
He also returned to the squad for the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers against Mali and Central African Republic.
The season is over and, of course, it’s time for drama at Asante Kotoko (wait your turn, rivals Accra Hearts of Oak; yours would probably be more spectacular given the rubbish, near-tragic campaign you just had).
It was only last Sunday that the Porcupine Warriors thrashed Bofoakwa Tano 3-1 to finish sixth — the club’s lowest placement since 2010, when they also ended up in an identical position. Had they played much of the 2023/24 campaign the way they did on its last matchday — with a flourish even the relentless rain couldn’t dampen — Kotoko would likely have done much better on the final standings.
Clearly, change — of a significant kind — would be needed to ensure next season aligns more with the club’s lofty standards and expectations.
But, even so, nobody quite envisaged the scale of that change being as massive as this week’s announcements by the club on its official social media platforms revealed: as many as 18 outgoings from the playing body (and there is no promise there wouldn’t be more between now and the start of the campaign to come).
Asante Kotoko has this afternoon parted ways mutually with the following players.
The profiles of the affected players — from veterans (Danlad Ibrahim) and cult favourites (Georges Mfegue) to ‘starboys’ (Isaac Oppong) and flops (Kalo Ouattara) — varied as widely as the reaction among the fanbase to the development, but there has been little about the collective feedback to suggest any measure of pleasure about the wholesale nature of these exits.
It’s not just about Kotoko losing so many players (all but one of whom arrived only in the last four years) without getting a pesewa in return — even if that is now an admittedly concerning, perennial feature of the club’s transfer business — as it is about losing so many players who’d walk straight into the starting lineups of some of the other teams in the league, potentially even to the benefit of direct rivals.
Those fears aren’t unfounded, given there are very recent examples of such stories.
The division’s freshly-crowned topscorer, Berekum Chelsea’s Stephen Amankona, was let go last year after a couple of admittedly underwhelming seasons. A slightly earlier departee, midfielder Emmanuel Keyekeh, played a leading role in helping Samartex become the league’s latest champions.
Granted, not all, if any, among the latest batch of leavers would have that sort of success. But it is the feeling that Kotoko, with only a bit more patience, could have extracted more from these players — such as exciting attacker Oppong and promising full-back Nicholas Osei Bonsu, for whom the loudest ohs and ahs were reserved by stunned fans online — which grates on those who’d want to see the club make good returns on its investment.
For an institution that struggles to generate enough funds to merely sustain itself, the turnover rate at Kotoko is ridiculously high; certainly, an outfit so cash-strapped cannot afford to be this wasteful.
The excuse this time (as always) may be that it clears the slate considerably for the head coach, Dr. Prosper Narteh Ogum, to rebuild, but if anyone should leave so Kotoko finds their way again, it is probably Ogum himself — especially after his unforced, post-season mea culpa.
Don’t hold your breath, though; with him doubling as a member of an Interim Management Committee (IMC) that has only one other member on the ground (and even he is a traditional chief with little football knowledge), Ogum is going nowhere anytime soon.
Barring any unforeseeable occurrence, he’ll have another chance at success next season — but there would be no such shot at redemption, at least not in Kotoko colours, for the players he has now flushed out of the club.
Favour Ofili is Nigeria’s new 100m champion and automatic qualifier for the Paris Games after winning the Olympic trials in Benin to become the fastest woman in the country.
Delayed but not denied, Favour Ofili made a triumphant return on home soil by winning the women’s 100m national title at the Nigeria Olympic trials as her time also surpassed the Paris Olympics qualifying standard.
Ofili, who last raced in Nigeria in 2021, continued with her brilliant 2024 season at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium in Benin. She came to the trials not just as the favourite to win, but most importantly, with another chance of hitting the Paris Olympic qualifying 100m standard.
The talented speedster began her chase with a statement victory and Season’s Best (SB) of 11.17s in the semifinals – the fastest overall time.
Less than two hours later and in the absence of her fierce rival Rosemary Chukwuma in the final, Ofili had just one goal in mind – secure her Olympic ticket and win her first national senior title.
She did both astonishingly by blazing to an impressive new SB of 11.06s, a time good enough to automatically surpass the Olympic qualifying standard of 11.10s.
African Games revelation Olayinka Olajide was second in 11.37s, while Justina Eyakpobeyan secured the last podium placement in 11.47s.With Ofili’s victory and ticket to Paris, this means she has now qualified for the Olympic Games in the 100m and 200m events, and earned the bragging rights of being called Nigeria’s fastest woman for the next year.
Conseslus Kipruto will miss a second straight Olympics after his failure to qualify for the Paris Games but he still has time to revive his career following a series of misfortunes.
Conseslus Kipruto remains the last man to win a steeplechase gold medal for Kenya at both the Olympics and World Championships but will miss the Olympics for the second time in a row.
Kipruto had an awful performance at the Athletics Kenya trials when he faded into 10th place and missed the cut completely after posting 8:51.56.
He missed the 2020 Olympics, before managing bronze and the 2022 Worlds, but failed to qualify for last year’s global championships and heading to Paris, Kenya would have done with his experience and knowhow, but the job now rests on the shoulders of 21-year-olds Simon Koech and Amos Serem as well as Commonwealth champion Abraham Kibiwott.
Steeplechase was considered a Kenyan race since no other country had claimed an Olympics gold over the distance since 1968 until Kipruto’s heroics in Rio eight years ago but now, there is little hope as Moroccan Soufiane El Bakkali has taken over, winning it in Tokyo, as well as the last two World Championships.
Kipruto is, however, looking at the glass half-full in regards to his career with hopes of coming back strongly.
“Last month, I went to Morocco but I didn’t open the season the way I expected but I had a problem and I have now worked on it,” he said after the Olympics trials.
“I think I’m doing much better right now unlike last year. I am now doing okay and I have so much faith in myself. Last year, I wanted to go to the World Championships but I got a problem and had to withdraw but now, I’m doing well,” Kipruto said
Founder of the Right to Dream football academy, Tom Vernon, has hailed the talent of Ghanaian children as the country’s biggest asset.
The Englishman, who has been operating the famous academy in Ghana for over 20 years, believes this is not just limited to football but across all fields.
Vernon made this disclosure in an all-access interview with Joy Sports at the academy’s campus in Akosombo, Old Akrade while talking about the criteria for admitting kids.
“It’s really tough. The first thing I’ll say is that the kids who don’t get in, let’s say we take the top 20. The kids from number 21 down to, let’s say, number 100 would get into any academy in Europe, any academy in Europe.
“You can take the guy number 100; we don’t have space for him here. If he lives in Madrid, he’ll be in the Real Madrid Academy, that’s my view.
“So it shows how much is still to be done to serve the talent and the youth of Ghana.
“Like we need much more of what we’re doing. I always say Right to Dream; we’re doing our part, but we need much more expansion of talent development.
“My view is, Ghana’s biggest asset is the talent of its children. Not in football but broadly.”
The Right to Dream Academy has produced some of the biggest football stars for Ghana’s national teams over the last two decades including Mohammed Kudus, Majeed Waris, David Accam, Kamaldeen Sulemana and Ibrahim Osman, who has just signed for Brighton.
Not just that. Ivy League graduates are among the products coming out of the Old Akrade-based academy.
Watch part one of Tom Vernon’s interview with Fentuo Tahiru Fentuo here:
The Vice President and 2024 flagbearer of the NPP, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, has congratulated newly-crowned Malta Guinness Women’s Premier League champions, Hasaacas Ladies, following their success at the end of the 2023/24 season.
Bawumia’s message comes after the Hasmal Ladies defeated Ampem Darkoa Ladies to reclaim the Womens’ Premier League title for the first time since the 2020/21 campaign.
Veronica Baa Kuma and Mukarama Abdulai scored the goals for Hasaacas Ladies in the final on June 8.
Following their success, they have received a congratulatory message from Bawumia who is hoping the club will go all the way to replicate their success from the 2020/21 season when they reached the final of the CAF Women’s Champions League.
Hasaacas Ladies will play in the WAFU B Champions League qualifiers to be staged in Abidjan in August 2024.Yussif Basigi’s side will be hoping to win the competition which will also serve as their ticket to the main CAF Women’s Champions League competition.
