Medeama Sporting Club handed Hearts of Oak their third defeat in the last three games in the Ghana Premier League.
The game, which was played at the Akoon Park on Wednesday afternoon, saw the Tarkwa-based side record a 2-0 win on matchday 25 of the league.
Kobina Amoah opened the scoring for the Yellow and Mauve side after 65 minutes as he blasted his free-kick into the net to give his side the lead.
Godfred Abban doubled the lead for Medeama with nine minutes away from full time with the midfielder sending his low strike past the Hearts goalkeeper.
The Accra-based side were second favourites in the entire period of the game and failed to recover from the two goals conceded.
The defeat now means the Phobians have lost the last three games they have played in the league after no defeat in the previous eight.
Abubakar Ouattara’s men now drop to 11th on the league table after 25 games played and face Karela United in their next game.
In other results, Samartex earned a point with their 1-1 draw with Legon Cities.
Ghana’s Sports Ministry has held talks with the governing body of the Commonwealth Games, the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF), over the possibility of hosting the 2026 Games.
According to Sports Minister Mustapha Ussif who spoke to GHOne TV, the preliminary discussions had been positive.
”In fact the president of Commonwealth Games was in Ghana. He has visited our facilities and held a meeting with my good self. I had the opportunity of even attending some of their meetings,”
”And their programs, they want African nation. They said it is time for Africa to host the Commonwealth Games, and Ghana, we have the facilities now.” he said.
The 2026 Games is currently without a host city after Malaysia rejected the CGF’s offer, which included £100 million ($126 million) in supporting funds.
In an official statement, Malaysia said its decision was due to time constraints, costs and an insufficient offer of funding.
The CGF had asked Malaysia to step in after the Australian state of Victoria withdrew, citing ballooning costs.
While Malaysia and the Australian City of Victoria consider the Games to be too expensive, Mustapha Ussif has said it will not cost a fortune to do it.
”It is not going to cost us as much as it cost us to organise the African Games if we decide as a country to go for Commonwealth Games,”
”The beauty of the Commonwealth Games is that they will even give you funding that will come from Commonwealth Games Secretariat, unlike the African Games.”
Countries are not lining up to host the Games due to the cost involved and legacy issues.
The cost involved is what drove away the Australian City of Victoria. In their case, the Games was going to cost an estimated $4.8 billion to host it.
Victoria Premier Dan Andrews said “Frankly A$6-A$7 billion for a 12-day sporting event, we’re not doing that.”
By his own admission, Victoria made the decision even before working out the cost of breaking its contract with the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF).
As it turns out, Dan Andrews would later confirm that the Victoria State had agreed to pay $243 million to Commonwealth Games organizers.
In 2019, the CGF revealed that the Birmingham 2022 games would cost an estimated £778million. The UK government agreed to a 75-25 cost-sharing formula with the Birmingham City Council.
A year after hosting the Games, the Birmingham City Council effectively declared bankruptcy to meet equal pay claims. In a statement, the Labour council of the largest local authority in Europe said the notice was a “necessary step as we seek to get our city back on a sound financial footing”.
It is not clear how much it will cost Ghana to host the Games and where the funding will come from.
Ghana recently spent over $289 million on facilities, operational cost and associated expenses to host the 2023 African Games.
The 2024 Sheikh Sharubutu Ramadan Cup has been officially been launched at the Accra Sports Stadium media centre with 30 Zongo communities set to participate in the competition.
Minister for Sports, Hon. Mustapha Ussif, The Chairman of the Ghana Hajj Board and representative of Vice-President, Ben Abdallah Banda, football administrator Awalu Angulu Mahama were among those who graced the occasion.
Ussif eulogised the National Chief Imam, Sheikh Osman Nuhu Sharubutu, thanked the organizers of the competition and urged the organizers to set an age limit to encourage the participation of promising talents.
The event’s founder, Tamimu Issah, also expressed excitement about the upcoming competition which is to ensure unity and bring togetherness in the Zongo Community.
He also urged the teams to select youngsters who have the prospect of excelling as professional footballers in the sport.
The competition has new entrants including Teshie Zongo, Akweteyman and Tuba.
The two-day championship is slated for April 20th at the Fadama Astroturf.
Mamobi are the current holders of the title after defeating Darkuman last year.
Former West Ham star Frederic Kanoute has said Mohammed Kudus has the potential to win the African footballer of the year award.
Kudus has won many admirers in his debut season for West Ham, scoring 13 goals in 30 appearances in all competitions. In his debut appearances at the African Cup of Nations in Ivory Coast, Kudus scored twice in a 2-2 draw with Egypt.
These performances have won him many admirers, including the 2007 CAF Player of the Year, Kanoute.
‘‘He is really, really talented. He has everything, he has strength, running forwards, he can play different positions. Still quite young and I think he is one of the most exciting African players around these days. So yes, he definitely has a chance for me,’’ Kanoute said on the Irons Podcast.
Frederic Kanoute scored 27 goals in 76 appearances for West Ham United from 2000 to 2003.
At international level, Kanoute scored 23 goals in 38 appearances for Mali from 2004 to 2010.
LA Galaxy winger Joseph Paintsil was the subject of racial abuse by a fan after the team’s 2-1 loss to Los Angeles FC in the Major League Soccer.
Paintsil was singled out for blame by disappointed fans despite his best efforts to prevent the defeat.
The derogatory message was first posted on the Black Stars winger’s official Instagram page, shortly after the match.
Moments after the post was shared, fans of both LA FC and LA Galaxy joined forces to condemn the despicable conduct.
LA Galaxy have since released a statement of solidarity with Paintsil while condemning the racist behaviour.
“LA Galaxy forward Joseph Paintsil was the victim of a racist social media incident following Saturday’s match against LAFC.
“The club stands with Joseph and anyone who has faced racial abuse through social platforms or anywhere else. The incident was immediately reported to Major League Soccer.
“We are also working with MLS to ensure Joseph has all the resources and support he needs at this time. There is no place for racism in our community, in our league or anywhere else in society,” the statement read.
Paintsil joined LA Galaxy on February 21, 2024, is yet to publuicly comment on the matter.
Since joining the Western Conference side, Paintsil has scored two twice with two assists in seven MLS appearances.
Dreams FC made history on Sunday night when they became the first Ghanaian club to make the semi finals of the CAF Confederation Cup in its current format.
Dreams drew 1-1 with Stade Malien of Mali in Kumasi to complete a 3-2 aggregate win, thanks to a 2-1 first leg victory.
The last time a Ghanaian club went this far in CAF’s second tier competition was back in 2004, when Hearts of Oak and Asante Kotoko made the final of the inaugural competition.
Along with the history, Dreams FC have also secured a hefty pay out of US$750,000 for reaching the last four.
The Dawn-based club will earn an extra US$250,000 if they can reach the final, which would bring their total earnings to US$1,000,000 even if they lose the final.
Winning the competition will double that figure to a whopping US$2,000,000.
These figures are based on CAF’s new prize money for the competition, which was announced in 2023.
Karim Zito’s men take on Egyptian giants Zamalek in the last four, with the first leg in Cairo on April 21, and the return leg in Kumasi 7 days later.
The 2023 African Games concluded on Saturday with a colourful ceremony to cap off 16 days of wonderful competition.
At the end of the games, Ghana amassed 69 medals overall, the country’s most medal haul in the 59-year history of the competition.
The breakdown of the medals has Ghana winning 19 Gold, 29 silver and 21 bronze, all from 10 sporting disciplines. Armwrestling chipped in the most medals, contributing 41 medals, which is 60% of the country’s total haul.
Let’s now delve into the details of where the medals came from and which athletes won them.
Weightlifting (3 medals)
Weightlifting was the first to win medals for Ghana, with all three medals coming from 21-year-old Winnifred Ntumi.
Ntumi won two silver medals in the 49k Clean-Jerk and the 49kg Snatch, before picking up gold in the overall women’s 49kg category.
Boxing (7 medals)
Boxing waited till the penultimate day of competition to deliver a stunning 4 gold medals in front of a torturous crowd at the Bukom Boxing Arena.
Commonwealth silver medalist Joseph Commey, Olympic bronze medalist Samuel Takyi, Amadu Mohammed, and Mohammed Aryeetey all secured gold in their respective weight divisions.
Abubakar Kamoko, son of Braimah Kamoko, settled for silver after losing the Cruiserweight final to Algeria’s Ousama Kanouni.
Theophilus Allotey and Janet Acquah also contributed two bronze medals in boxing, after being stopped in the semi-finals of their respective fights.
Athletics (6 medals)
Athletics brought home 6 medals, with 3 gold medals coming from Joseph Paul Amoah in the men’s 200m, Evans Cadman in the men’s high jump, and Rose Yeboah in the women’s high jump.
he men’s 4x100m relay team picked a silver after being beaten by Nigeria, and the women’s 4x100m relay team settled for bronze, while William Amponsah brought home an impressive silver medal in the men’s half marathon event.
Armwrestling (41)
Armwrestling contributed 60% of the country’s total medal haul, with multiple wrestlers picking up multiple medals in the process.
The 8 arm-wrestling medals came from Blessed Abeka, who picked two gold medals in both the women’s 60kg Right Arm and Left Arm; Edward Asamoah, who won two gold medals in both the men’s 90kg Right Arm and Left Arm; Grace Mintah, with two gold from the women’s 80kg Right Arm and Left Arm.
Godwin Sackey and Mabel Yeboah then chipped in with two gold medals in the men’s 75kg Left Arm and the women’s 55kg Right Arm respectively.
There were 19 silver medals from arm-wrestling, which came from Derrick Adu Kwakye (2), Daniel Acquah (2), Henry Otoo (2), Isaac Amugi (2), with Issah Kunya, Bukari Phildaus, Roselyn Lartey, Eugenia Ntow, Amuda Issah, Rashida Alhassan, Kadri Mariam, Amuda Mariam, Lankai Rachael, Mary Quaye, all picking up one silver medal apiece.
There were 14 bronze medals in arm-wrestling, which came from Abdul Somed Saana (2), Nunoo Perpetual, Godwin Sakey, Eugenia Ntow, Wisdom Abromekyi, Issah Kunya, Mabel Yeboah, Ackah Naa Korkor, Bukari Phildaus, Issahak Abdul, Kadri Mariam, and Mary Quaye.
Football brought home two gold medals in both the men’s and the women’s competitions. The Black Princesses beat Nigeria 2-1 in extra time to claim the gold in Cape Coast before the Black Satellites replicated the feat by beating Uganda 1-0 in Accra on Friday.
It’s the first time one country has won gold in both the men’s and women’s football competitions at a single games.
Hockey (2 medals)
Hockey contributed a gold and a silver medal to Ghana’s medal count. The Women’s hockey team needed penalties to beat Nigeria in the final played on Friday, but the men lost their final match to Egypt on penalties, despite rallying back from 2 goals down to take the match to a shootout.
Taekwondo (2 medals)
Kelvin Amo and Kelvin Tuagbor won two silver medals for Ghana in the Taekwando over 17 category.
22-year-old Tuagbor lost the gold to Egypt’s Ganatalla Amed in the Individual Freestyle Poompsae, while 18-year-old Amuzu also lost his Individual Freestyle Poompsae to Egyptian Ahmed Hassan.
Swimming (2 medals)
Abeku Jackson won both of Ghana’s medals in swimming – a silver in the men’s 50m butterfly and a bronze in the 100m butterfly event.
Volleyball (1)
The men’s volleyball team won a bronze for Ghana, beating Cameroon 4-3 in the bronze medal match.
Ghana lost 3-1 to eventual winners, Egypt, in the semi-finals before recovering to take the bronze at the expense of Cameroon.
Basketball 3×3 (2)
Ghana picked up two medals in the basketball 3×3 held at the University of Ghana basketball courts.
The U-23 men won a silver medal after losing to Algeria 16-11 in the final.
Hannah Amoako then won a bronze in the women’s shootout contest.
Ghana’s Black Bombers won a historic four gold medals on the final day of the men’s boxing competition at the Accra 2023 African Games.
Commonwealth silver medalist Joseph Commey, Olympic bronze medalist Samuel Takyi, Amadu Mohammed, and Mohammed Aryeetey all secured gold in their respective weight divisions.
The first gold medal of the night was won by Mohammed Aryeetey, who only returned to the amateur ranks last year, ahead of the African Games.
Aryeetey defeated Tulembekwa Zola Livens, from the Democratic Republic of Congo, via a unanimous decision in the men’s Minimum weight division.
Two hours later, Joseph Commey defeated Zambia’s Andrew Chilata in the men’s lightweight final to bag Ghana’s second gold medal.
Having won silver at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham in 2022, the African Games gold adds to Commey’s improving resume.
Commey won the lightweight contest via a unanimous decision.
In the men’s Bantamweight final, Amadu Mohammed dispatched Zambia’s Mwale Mengo via a unanimous decision.
Next on the schedule was, Samuel Takyi, and he, like the three Black Bombers before, did not disappoint.
Takyi fought off a spirited performance by Zambia’s Emmanuel Katema to secure gold in the light welterweight final.
Despite dropping his opponent twice, the Zambian still threatened to ruin the party. Takyi slipped in the third round when he tried to block a combination of right and left hooks from the Zambian.
However, Takyi recovered thanks to his superior ring craft to bring home the medal.
Friday’s gold at the African Games adds to Takyi’s bronze medal from the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
Friday’s haul is the most in a single day by Ghana at any African Games Boxing competition.
It’s also the most gold medal won by Ghana in a single African Games competition.
Meanwhile, Abubakar Kamoko, son of Braimah Kamoko, settled for silver after losing the Cruiserweight final to Algeria’s Ousama Kanouni.
Telecommunications giants MTN has reiterated its commitment to the MTN FA Cup competition with exciting activations while calling for female participation in the quarter-final stages and beyond.
Aside from the GH¢1.5 million support for the competition every year till 2026, MTN has proposed to the FA to consider gender inclusivity in officiating.
“After celebrating International Women’s Day so beautifully, we propose that the FA considers using an all-female officiating team, to ensure that our ladies are not left out of the excitement,” the Senior Manager, Brands Communications, MTN Ghana Mr Germain Nartey, has said.
He made these comments when the quarter-final draw of the competition was held.
That he said, would go a long way to motivate women to participate in officiating and also attract more females to the competition.
In addition, he said, they had put in place other activities to attract a larger audience to various centres as the competition gets to its climax.
In the media space, he said MTN hopes to work with media partners on the ‘MTN FA Cup Arena,’ where there would be discussions on the game with a call-in segment for callers to answer questions and win some prizes.
“There will be street quiz for social media as well as activations that will earn participants prizes and match tickets,” he stated.
With community activations, he said, MTN would ignite community participation by forming partnerships with community-park managers, and local radio stations to visit weekend Community Game Centres to run activations.
“We will provide tents, branded panels, water stands, souvenir giveaways, discounted and complimentary tickets. We are hopeful that these activations will bring the communities closer to the FA Cup while at the same time giving us the opportunity to support community football,” he stressed.
He said these community game centres would promote discussions, create networking opportunities, and serve as a business arena.
“We want to use the games to drive progress in our communities. On match days, there would be Fan Zones at the various stadia. Fans will have the opportunity to engage in activities such as Target Shooting and Wheel of Fortune to win prizes,” he said.
He said, the 2023/2024 season of the MTN FA Cup promises to be exciting and anticipating spectacular skills and brilliant moments.
At the end of the draw defending champions Dreams FC would face off with lower tier side Soccer Intellectuals while Bofoakwa Tano would battle it out with Skyy FC for a place in the semi-finals of the competition.
It would be a premier league teams affair as last year’s semi-finalist Nsoatreman FC squares off with Karela United in a very exciting fixture while Legon Cities and Bechem Utd would fight for a place in the next round.
The games would be played between March 29 and April 1.
The Chairman of the MTN FA Cup Committee, Mr Wilson Arthur said the competition level was very high despite the elimination of top clubs including Accra Hearts of Oak and Kumasi Asante Kotoko.
He said, organisers were looking forward to an exciting round and urged families especially ladies and children to visit the venues for quality time.
