MPs to
play Ministers on Wednesday
Mighty
Jets reinstated into the division one league
Desailly
wants to coach Black Stars
Champion
club, Accra Hearts of Oak have besieged the camp of rivals Asante Kotoko with
the hope of signing on three top players for the upcoming season.
The adventure has stirred a fierce struggle over Hamza Mohammed and two others.
Until he played for Kotoko in last Sunday's Cup Winners Cup grand final against
WAC of Morocco, Hamza was on loan to the Porcupine Warriors for a fee of ˘60
million.
Hamza's loan period having elapsed, Kotoko have shown keen interest in entering
into a proper contract for his transfer from his mother club, Real Tamale
United.
Information pieced together from reliable sources indicates that Kotoko are
prepared to part with ˘150 million to secure the player’s transfer from RTU.
The Kotoko management has been in constant touch with the management of RTU
over the last few days to have the transfer deal sealed.
Meanwhile, from the sidelines Hearts of Oak appear to be following Kotoko's
frantic efforts to keep Hamza in their fold with keen interest.
Determined to take Africa by storm next year in the quest for their second
continental triumph, Hearts are still looking round for good players to
complement the efforts of their all-conquering squad.
Hearts, according to sources, are prepared to offer Hamza a more enticing offer
and are therefore not worried about the fact that Kotoko made the first move.
Hamza aside, Hearts are known to have sealed deals with Michael Osei and Joe
Hendricks. The three players are certain to swap their red jersey for the
rainbow colours next season.
When asked how Osei and Hamza who have signed to play for Kotoko in Africa next
year can play for Hearts, a source close to the Phobians said as far as the
champion club is concerned the players are certain to play for Hearts next
season, come what may.
He said if Hamza and Osei have signed to play for Kotoko in Africa next year,
it was a panic reaction move Herbert Mensah employed after losing to WAC.
GRi…/
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MPs
to play Ministers on Wednesday
Accra (Greater Accra)
13 December 2002 - Members of Parliament would play a fun football match with
Ministers of State and their Deputies on Wednesday December 18 at the Accra
Sports Stadium.
A statement by Mr S
Nkrumah Gyimah, Chairman-Committee on Youth and Sports said as way to making
the match competitive, the Minister of Youth and Sport has been urged to
provide a trophy dubbed 'The Good Governance Trophy' for the winner of the
match.
He said there would
be a curtain raiser to the match between the Castle Staff and their
Parliamentary counterparts.
GRi…/
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Mighty
Jets reinstated into the division one league
Accra (Greater Accra)
13 December 2002- Tudu Mighty Jets has been cleared to participate in the much
delayed division one league at an emergency congress of the Ghana Football
Association in Accra on Thursday.
The decision to
reinstate the Mighty Jets came as a result of a plea by Justice Ato Ampiah,
president of congress to delegates to reverse their last year's resolution in
order to pave way for the commencement of this year's league in order "to save our football from total
collapse."
He said the reversal
of the earlier congress decision to expel Jets should not suggest that the
Football Association would no longer pursue the case it sent to the appeals
court but rather because it is apparent that the case might likely not be heard
this year on accounts of the courts going on vacation soon.
When the issue was
submitted to vote, 90 of the delegates voted for Mighty Jets return while only
14 voted against.
Justice Ampiah said
they intend to follow through with that case and would apply the appropriate
sanctions against the club if the court ruled in their favour and pointed out
as things stand now any division one football league without Mighty Jets would
be in contempt of the high court's decision.
It would be recalled
that a protracted legal wrangling between Tudu Might Jets and GFA has resulted
in indefinite suspension of the Division One League (DOL) for about a year now
as both parties await the judgment of the Appeals Court, which is handling the
case.
The tussle started
when the FA suspended Might Jets for three years after the club pulled out of
the national middle league assigning financial difficulties for their action.
The GFA refused to
accept their grounds for the pull out and went ahead to apply sanctions
according to its statutes.
Mighty Jets later
protested that a three year ban imposed on them was illegal because it
contravened natural justice of not being heard before the sanction was imposed
and consequently sought redress in the courts which quashed the FA's sanction.
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Desailly
wants to coach Black Stars
Accra (Greater Accra)
13 December 2002- Marcel Desailly, the renown Ghanaian born French soccer star
who plays for Chelsea in the English premier league, on Thursday said he would
go into the coaching profession in the next five years.
Desailly, who is in
town for three days to pursue a legal issue, in which he was defrauded to the
tune of 488 million cedis, told GNA Sport that "I would love to start my
coaching carrier with the Black Stars and I hope to be the first to take the
stars to the World Cup."
He said his carrier
as a soccer player would come to an end in a year's time adding that he would
take some rest and take some coaching courses to prepare over a period of four
years for the next phase of his carrier.
Desailly said
currently he is not very familiar with the local soccer arena, adding that
since he wants to bring his expertise home to Ghana after his playing carrier,
he intends to spend sometime to familiarise himself with the local leagues and
other competitions to be able to contribute effectively.
Desailly,
affectionately called Odenke, noted that the system of recruiting players to
Ghana's senior national team was not the best, saying that it was always best
to build a formidable local team instead of depending heavily on foreign-based
players.
"It is high time
we concentrated on establishing high level football academies in Ghana to train
local players who would be well motivated to stay and practice their profession
in the country and be available to serve the nation anytime they are
needed," he said.
Desailly said
football teams in Europe are in serious business and are not willing to release
their best African players to play for their national teams at their expense.
He said African
national teams could only solve this problem sufficiently by building a strong
dependable national team with local players.
"I am really
worried that the performance of the Black Stars in recent times is not the best
and my advise is that we must start building a local side now if we are serious
about getting to the World cup," the first African world cup winner said.
Commenting on his
frustration over problems he is facing in an effort to contribute to the
development of this country, he said it was unfortunate how some home-based
Ghanaians tend to dupe their foreign-based brothers who want to help the
country.
Desailly said his
dream to establish a school complex in East Legon to assist brilliant needy
Ghanaian children was almost shattered as some people sold a parcel of land
that did not belong to them to him at a whooping 600 million cedis.
Desailly said he is
now dealing with the rightful owners of the land, adding that he has filed a
case in court to retrieve an amount 488 million he paid to the alleged
defrauders.
"I hope to win
this case because if I did, it would serve as a green light to several of my
colleagues abroad who wanted to do similar projects in Ghana," he said.
"Otherwise the other potential investors would just back-off."
"I want to help
my country - I want to help grow the economy from within, in my own small way,
but such frustrations are discouraging and deterrents to potential investors. For
me it is not about doing business, it's about contributing to education."
Desailly has filed a
case against one Winfred Kumah of King Star Construction and a faction in
Nungua, near Accra, who wrongly sold the land to him. The case is currently
pending at the Osu Tribunal and has been adjourned to Tuesday 17 December 2002.
GRi…/
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Afienya
would bounce back in 2004-Chairman
Accra (Greater Accra)
13 December 2002-Alhaji Osman Mohammed, Chairman of division one league
campaigners Afienya United has expressed the determination of his club to
rejoin the premiership for the 2004 soccer season.
"We would have
qualified for the 2003 premiership but due to the crisis in the division one
league, we have decided to launch our campaign back to the premiership after
this years' division one league," Alhaji Mohammed told the GNA Sports on
Thursday.
He said his club is
gradually putting in place the necessary structures including managerial,
financial and technical issues to ensure a smooth come back into the Premier
league in 2004.
According to Alhaji
Mohammed funding was a major cause of their demotion to the division one league
in the early 90's but said they are doing everything possible to overcome these
problems before they stage a come back.
Alhaji Osman said
apart from seeking ways to solve their financial problems the club has
recruited good materials capable of restoring them back to the premiership.
The sole financier of
the club said, "I 'm confident of coming back to the premiership in 2004
league season, because we are not leaving any stones unturned in our bid to
book a place in the elite league"
He said their come
back would be permanent, because there is no way they would get back to the
division one league again adding that they are out to make history in Ghana
soccer.
It would be recalled
that, Great Afienya United a bogey side for top premier side clubs like Hearts,
Kotoko and Olympics were relegated to the division one league in the early 90's
has since remained in the wilderness.
GRi…/
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