Kudus has made a significant impact since joining West Ham from Ajax in a €43.00m deal, scoring 10 goals across all competitions and establishing himself as an important player for the club.
Meanwhile, former England international Alan Smith believes West Ham will not be willing to sell any of their players to Arsenal following the prolonged negotiations during the Decland Rice move.
The Gunners have emerged as one of the teams targeting Kudus ahead of the summer transfer window.
Kudus was on the radar of Arsenal last summer but the Hammers beat other clubs to secure the services of the 23-year-old.
The former Ajax star has settled in England and has netted ten times in 26 appearances for the London outfit.
However, his future at West Ham could come to a quick end in the summer with top clubs beginning to show interest.
“The Rice move was always going to happen, but I think West Ham have actually invested well off the back of it with the likes of Edson Alvarez and Kudus coming in,” said Smith to Newbettingsite.co.uk.
“I don’t think West Ham will be wanting to sell him to Arsenal anytime soon, especially not after the Declan Rice move!” he added.
Stephen Appiah Asare, formerly of Tema Youth, has joined Legon Cities FC ahead of the second round of the Ghana Premier League.
The winger was seen sporting the club’s jersey during their friendly match against US Avranches, which they won 2-1.
Asare won a penalty for the Royals during the game.
Legon Cities had a mixed first round, ultimately finishing in ninth place. The team has made several signings, including Asare, to improve their performance and achieve a top-four finish.
Asare had been a consistent performer for Tema Youth in the second division, but this move to the top flight represents a significant step up in his career.
He will need to adapt quickly and make the most of this opportunity if he wants to succeed.
Leicester City are looking to secure a permanent move for Black Stars winger Fatawu Issahaku at the end of the season.
ssahaku, currently on loan with the English Championship side, has been making an impact, and sources from England indicate that the move could become permanent.
The Ghana international showcased his prowess by scoring his third goal of the season during Leicester City’s recent 2-0 victory over Sheffield Wednesday in the Championship. Issahaku opened the scoring in the fourth minute, tapping into an empty net after a pass from Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall. The experienced striker Jamie Vardy added the second goal in the 36th minute, securing the win for Enzo Maresca’s side.
Leicester City continues to lead the Championship standings with 78 points from 32 matches, positioning themselves for a potential promotion to the Premier League at the end of the season.
If the reported move becomes official, it would mark a significant step for Fatawu Issahaku in his career, transitioning to a permanent role with Leicester City.
The conveners of ‘SaveGhanaFootball’ demonstration has presented a 15-point petition to the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, on Wednesday after the protest in Accra.
The petition was presented after a march that was held earlier in the day starting from the Obra Spot at Kwame Nkrumah Circle and ended at the Black Star Square.
The protesters were among others seeking significant reforms in the governance of Ghana football. They believe Ghana’s football industry is collapsing because of poor leadership and structures.
The Black Stars exiting the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations at the group stage is the final piece that necessitated the demonstration.
Among the demands in the petition, the conveners asked for the disbandment of national team management committees, that many see as not doing any work and taking outrageous per diems.
Read the full fifteen points in the petition below:
DEVELOP A NATIONAL FOOTBALL POLICY:
This policy if properly developed, with proper consultation and inputs will serve as a direct guiding principle or the fulcrum around which our football will revolve.
INSTITUTE A COMMISSION OF ENQUIRY:
A Commission of enquiries and investigations, akin to the Dzamefe Commission, must be established to probe the factors contributing to the poor performances of the National Teams, including administrative, coaching, and player-related issues. Specific terms of reference must be provided, and a Government white paper issued accordingly.
ACCOUNTABILITY:
There is a pressing need for accountability for individuals and entities responsible for the disbursement and utilization of the $10.5m prize money received from our World Cup participation in Qatar 2022, the $8.5 million budget in Ivory Coast. This we believe will guide us in future tournaments and our participation.
DISSOLUTION OF SEARCH COMMITTEE’S REPORT ON THE APPOINTMENT OF A NEW BLACK STAR COACH:
After three successive failed major tournament campaigns in three years, it is evident that Ghana’s football problems go beyond the appointment of coaches. The search committee tasked to look for a new coach for the Black Stars report must be discarded immediately, pending the review of the technical report, investigation into the issues that calumniated the horror show, management of the team, personnel, medical reports and challenges that bedeviled the team.
DISBANDMENT OF MANAGEMENT COMMITTEES:
The National Teams Management Committees have become an avenue for rewarding members of the GFA and their assigns with promises of travel and allowance. Thus, there are no criteria for selection members for these management committees. Besides, the competencies of some of the members are highly questionable. We recommend that, due to the palpable ineffectiveness of the management committees, the practice must be scrubbed. In its place, we propose the establishment of a ‘National Teams Board’ that will be responsible for the management of all national teams. This board must be a three-member board with a National Teams Coordinator as member. This would reduce the number of committees and build a robust system of governance for all the national teams. The National Teams Board would directly work hand in hand with the various back-room staff to uphold the highest standards required of the Ghanaian football.
LACK OF PLAYER DEVELOPMENT:
The development of Juvenile Football is the bedrock of success for all football nations. Over the years, Ghana has chalked remarkable success at juvenile and youth competitions at the continental and global level. The transition of these successes to significant achievements at the senior level however remains nonexistent. Talents unearthed at juvenile level unfortunately falloff without a deliberate succession plan to integrate them into the various age groups.
Since 2017, no National Male Team at the youth level or developmental stage of football has qualified for the World Cup. This has greatly hindered Ghana’s football developmental process. There is evidence of conflict-of-interest situations in the call of youth players with members of the current GFA administrations favoring players playing for clubs owned by these administrators and or clubs associated with the leadership. The resultant effect in the long run is the various teams no show at the global stage and depleted Black Stars.
STRUCTURAL REFORMS:
Structural reforms must be introduced at the GFA to ensure transparency, accountability, and good corporate governance, thereby improving financial management and enhancing professionalism in football administration. We recommend that, effective immediately, the Government order the agency responsible for sports in Ghana, the Ministry or National Sports Authority (NSA) to sign the FIFA Standard Corporation Agreement to ensure that government can get involved in the organization, technical direction, administration and the financing of football without the usual FIFA interference rhetoric.
NATIONAL TEAM FUNDING:
It is public knowledge, the level of financial investment the Government of Ghana makes into the National Teams. We are however of the view that, the mode of investment is wrong.
Substantial sums of tax payers’ monies only go into the Black Stars’ friendly games, tournaments at the expense of other National teams and sectors of the sport. It is quite astonishing the manner in which several Sports Ministers continue to approve unconscionable budgets prepared by the GFA for the Black Stars campaigns without proper scrutiny.
We suggest that, the GFA Collaborates with the National Sports Authority in the preparation of tournament or game budgets, as the NSA is the body mandated by Law, to undertake such exercise.
INVEST IN GRASS-ROOT DEVELOPMENT:
Government must invest massively in school sports, technical development, and infrastructure and grass-root football.
DOMESTIC COMPETITION:
The success of every Football Federation is measured by the strength of its domestic competitions. The Ghana Premier League and other competitions are in a very deplorable state. When organized well, it has the propensity of boosting the local economy with activities each week while offering employment opportunities to thousands of Ghanaians. As a matter of urgency, the government must endeavor to invest in the local league, through infrastructure development and also engage state and parasternal agencies to sponsor the leagues. An agreement should be reached between organizers of the league, club owners and such state agencies to have an oversight role in the use of these monies to ensure transparency at all levels. Adequate provision of infrastructure is crucial for football development in Ghana. The government should invest in the construction and maintenance of modern football infrastructure to support national teams and domestic leagues.
ESTABLISHMENT OF A NATIONAL TRAINING COMPLEX
ACCOUNTABILITY:
The GFA manages the national team in trust of Ghanaians. For accountability and transparency purposes we are calling for an extensive investigation into all the monies (FIFA & CAF and sponsorships) that have come to the GFA in the last five years. We are aware that MTN sponsored the Black Stars $2 million for two years when we qualified for the 2022 World Cup. Mara, Tecno Mobile, Puma, Flora Tissue, Zeepay, Chery Cars is part of Tanink Ghana Limited etc are some sponsors that came on board to sponsor the Black Stars during the World Cup in Qatar.
NATIONAL TEAM COACHES SALARY CHALLENGE:
All national team coaches must be provided with contract and be paid just as the Black Stars’ coach to cure the issues of bribery heavily associated with the management of the other national teams.
STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT:
Government to lead stakeholder engagements involving football clubs, fans, players, journalists, and civil society institutions to chart the way forward
REDUCTION OF TAX ON FOOTBALL-RELATED EVENTS:
Parliament to as a matter of urgency, consider reducing the 17 percent tax on football events to 3 percent as done for the creative arts.
ome protesters at the ‘Save Ghana Football’ demonstrations have called on football authorities to vacate their positions if they can’t fix the Black Stars.
The Black Stars exiting at the group stage of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations is the third time in consecutive major tournaments that the team has failed to progress from the first round.
The Kurt Okraku-led Ghana Football Association is searching for a fifth Black Stars coach since coming into office five years ago.
The demonstration is currently ongoing after it started at the Obra Spot at the Kwame Nkrumah Interchange in Accra.
The protesters will pass through Asylum Down, the Greater Accra Regional Hospital and present a petition at Ghana Football Association headquarters.
They will then proceed to do same at the Parliament of Ghana before ending the protest at the Independence square.
A protesters called “The leaders, they should fix the team for us. If they can’t improve the situation of the Black Stars, all of them should vacate their positions”.
sante Kotoko were eliminated from this season’s MTN FA Cup after losing 2-0 against Karela United in the Round 16 of the local competition.
The match took place on Monday, February 12, at the Aliu Mahama Sports Stadium, between both Ghana Premier League sides saw the Porcupine Warriors succumb to defeat.
Solomon Aboagye scored barely two minutes after the return from recess to break the deadlock for Karela.
Despite Asante Kotoko’s efforts to create scoring opportunities after conceding, they could not square the score.
In the 65th minute, Giyas doubled the lead for Karela United with a spectacular shot, clinching a 2-0 victory.
The win sees Karela advance to the quarterfinal with Kotoko sent packing.
On Tuesday, 13th February 2024, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo commissioned the beautiful edifice constructed for the organisation organization of the 13th African Games, to be held in the country, as well as to marked mark the 25th day countdown to the holding of the Games, arguably Africa ’ ‘ s biggest sporting event. In its fifty-seven (57) years of existence, this is the first time that Ghana is hosting the games, despite Ghana being, under the leadership of our first leader, Kwame Nkrumah, a founding member of the African Games.
Despite loud calls by some pessimists for our nation to withdraw from hosting the tournament, we remained resolute, and, today, our country can be proud of the massive sporting infrastructure we have put in place for the Games, which will be a huge legacy for the country.
The nation is expecting some five thousand (5,000) elite athletes, three thousand (3,000) experienced officials and thousands of fans in the country, together with an estimated global audience of 2.2 billion people watching through traditional and social media. The question is,” why has Ghana not hosted the African Games until now? The answer is simple: there is a time for everything; and this is our time. We are now ready and capable of organising and hosting the rest of the continent, here in Ghana. The people and Government Ghana are honoured and grateful to the Africa Union for the opportunity to host the rest of Africa for the first time in our history”
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has announced that government will construct one hundred new artificial pitches across the country, before the end of the year.
Akufo-Addo disclosed this during the official commissioning of the newly constructed Borteyman Sports Complex.
”Our government has show its commitment to sports development by investing significantly in the area of infrastructure. When came into office, there were only three astro-turfs or artificial pitches in the country.”
”We have constructed over 150 artificial pitches to change the status quo. I am happy to announce that this will not be the end. We will construct 100 more of such pitches to enhance the existing infrastructure” President Akufo-Addo said.
President Akufo-Addo also charged the Sports Ministry to ensure Ghana raises the bar as far as hosting the continent’s biggest multi-sports event is concerned.
”I admonish the Sports Minister and the Ministry of Youth and Sports and the LOC to go all out and organize the best African Games in history” he said.
Fans dance in the street as they celebrate the Elephants’ third Afcon win
Thousands of football fans wearing orange and white have flooded the streets of Abidjan to see the Ivory Coast team parade the Africa Cup of Nations trophy they won on Sunday.
The hosts defeated Nigeria 2-1 to win Afcon for a third time, prompting huge celebrations across the country.
Cecilia, who was born in Ivory Coast but now lives in the US, told the BBC she had travelled home for the final.
“That’s the best decision of my life,” she said.
A football fan awaits the arrival of the national team in Abidjan
Ivory Coast were unlikely winners. They lost two group games and fired their manager mid-tournament. Emerse Fae, a youth-team manager, took over for his first job leading a senior team.
Four games later, he was lifting a trophy.
Juliette Youan told the BBC: “Emerse Fae is a hero of Ivory Coast.”
“We are so proud to celebrate our hero. Vive Emerse! Emerse is the best coach,” she added.
Ms Youan and her friends made special T-shirts to commemorate Fae for leading the country to victory.
Footballs fans made T-shirts to celebrate coach Emerse Fae
The parade began at Hôtel Palmier and the crowd built slowly from around midday, becoming more boisterous as the parade’s scheduled start time approached.
As numbers grew, so did the noise, with horns blaring and chants breaking out, accompanied by dancing.
At around 15:00 GMT, the first players suddenly appeared on the flatbed truck that would take them on their journey through Abidjan to the over 30,0000 capacity Félix Houphouët Boigny stadium for a trophy presentation.
The banners on the truck announced the Elephants as “Champions of Africa 2023” and featured three stars, a nod to the fact that the team has now won this competition on three occasions.
Their underdog story resonated throughout the streets as people danced, rejoicing in their amazing comeback.
“It’s amazing. The first part of the tournament was very difficult but afterwards the players played very well and today we are very happy. Today we have to do some parties, it’s obligatory,” said Kwaku, another fan at the parade.
Ivory Coast players celebrating their victory
Looking relaxed in short-sleeved training tops, sunglasses, baseball caps and with gold medals around their necks, the players smiled out at the adoring crowds, leaning against the barrier, taking selfies and waving the Ivorian flag.
At one point, captain Serge Aurier even helped lift a young fan onto the truck for a photo before handing him back to his waiting father.
Ivory Coast won Afcon for a third time
Ivory Coast’s tale of triumph was made even better as the goal that clinched the trophy for the team was scored by Sébastien Haller, who had been diagnosed with testicular cancer a few months ago.
“We hoped to get to this point and once again the match wasn’t an easy one. The joyous scenes we see now, what’s happening in the country, they deserve it too. I really hope it does a lot of people good,” said Haller.
“We are very, very proud of our three stars on our jersey. We [the Ivorian people] have passed through many, many things, and today we are happy, we get together,” one fan told the BBC.
Given the reaction, it is clear members of this victorious squad will be viewed as national heroes for years to come.
Fans around the world are already dubbing Ivory Coast’s win one of the greatest turnaround in football tournament history.
The men’s marathon world record holder, Kenya’s Kelvin Kiptum, 24, has died in a road accident in his home country.
He was killed alongside his coach, Rwanda’s Gervais Hakizimana, in a car on a road in western Kenya on Sunday.
Kiptum made a breakthrough in 2023 as a rival to compatriot Eliud Kipchoge – one of the greatest marathon runners.
Kiptum bettered Kipchoge’s record, clocking the 26.2 miles (42km) in two hours and 35 seconds in Chicago last October.
The two athletes had been named in Kenya’s provisional marathon team for the Paris Olympics later this year.
Kipchoge said on X that the man who broke his record was a rising star who had “a whole life” ahead of him to achieve “incredible greatness”, offering condolences to his family.
Also paying tribute, Kenya’s President William Ruto described Kiptum as an extraordinary sportsman who had left a mark on the world.
“Kiptum was my only child, now he’s left me,” he told Kenya’s Citizen TV. “I don’t know what to say, I see his children will be looking to me and my child is gone… Now, who will help us raise his kids?”
The road accident happened at about 23:00 local time (20:00 GMT) on Sunday.
Giving details of the crash, police said Kiptum was driving and had “lost control [of the vehicle] and veered off-road entering into a ditch on his left side”.
“He drove in the ditch for about 60 metres before hitting a big tree,” a police statement said.
Kiptum and Hakizimana died at the site of a collision. A third person – a young woman – was seriously injured and taken to hospital for treatment.
The car that Kiptum was driving has been towed to a local police station for inspection
Just last week, Kiptum’s team announced that he would attempt to run the marathon in under two hours in Rotterdam in April – a feat that has never been achieved in open competition.
The rise to fame for the father-of-two had been rapid – he only competed in his first full marathon in 2022.
He made an instant impact as he ran the then fourth fastest time on record (2:01:53) to win the Valencia Marathon before setting a course record of 2:01:25 at the London Marathon in April 2023.
Six months later, in just his third marathon, Kiptum took 34 seconds off the world record time in Chicago in his final race.
He had already honed a distinct tactical approach that saw him run with the pack for 30km before upping the pace and going out on his own for the remainder of the race.
Kiptum entered his first major competition in 2018, running in borrowed shoes because he could not afford a pair of his own.
He was among a new crop of Kenyan athletes who began their careers on the road, breaking away from the past tradition of athletes starting on the track before switching to longer distances.
Kiptum told the BBC last year that his unusual choice was simply determined by a lack of resources.
“I had no money to travel to track sessions,” he explained.
People have gathered outside the hospital in the Rift Valley town of Eldoret where his body has been taken.
“I don’t know what to say but God, if we have done wrong, God forgive us because Kiptum was headed for great heights,” one man said.
“We want to say very sorry to the Kenyans and much more to the family of the departed hero. Very sorry,” another told a local TV channel.
Kenya’s opposition leader and former prime minister, Raila Odinga, said the country had lost “a true hero” and was mourning “a remarkable individual… and Kenyan athletics icon”.
Kiptum’s coach, Hakizimana, 36, was a retired Rwandan runner. Last year, he spent months helping Kiptum target the world record.
Their relationship as coach and athlete began in 2018, but the pair first met when the world record holder was much younger.
“I knew him when he was a little boy, herding livestock barefooted,” Hakizimana recalled last year. “It was in 2009, I was training near his father’s farm, he’d come kicking at my heels and I would chase him away.
