NSA: Cape Coast, Accra sports stadia ready, pending CAF approval for 2025 AFCON qualifiers

There are at least two local pitches ready to host Ghana’s next game for the 2025 African Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifiers, the National Sports Authority (NSA) has said.

The Board Chairman of the NSA, Seth Panwum Boyoyo, spoke during a session with the Parliamentary Select Committee on Youth, Sports, and Culture, Wednesday, September 25, 2024.

He said, after necessary renovations had been completed according to recommendations by the Confederation of African Football (CAF), the NSA recently informed CAF, “We have alternative pitches in Ghana which are ready.”

Mr Panwum Boyoyo debunked reports that Togo had been asked and subsequently refused to host the upcoming Ghana vs Sudan game. He called the reports “unverified” and plain “hearsay,” arguing they were unworthy to be entertained by in “serious” discourse.

He said: “CAF indeed wrote to us when they were banning the Kumasi Sports Stadium that we should nominate an alternative venue”. However, he added, “earlier, based on an earlier inspection, they had ruled out the stadia in Cape Coast, Tamale, Accra as possible venues for our games”.

“So in their records, we only had Kumasi. Once Kumasi was banned, they suggested we proffer an alternative [outside Ghana]. That’s when I began hearing on the radio we might either go to Abidjan [Cote d’Ivoire] or Togo and play,” he explained.

After the Ghana vs Angola match on September 5, coaches from both teams complained about the state of the pitch. CAF revoked the Baba Yara Sports Stadium’s licence to host the games, thereafter.

Panwum Boyoyo reported Baba Yara made GHS900,000 from functions hosted there before the aforementioned game. Regrettably, however, maintenance work was not done following said functions.

He said the officer who cleared the facility for use before the AFCON qualifier and “failed to recover the pitch ahead of the game is undergoing disciplinary measures at the authority”.

He, also, revealed the NSA had recently “communicated” with CAF, requesting an assessment of the “recovered” sporting facilities in Ghana, including the Cape Coast Sports Stadium, for category 3 matches by the Black Stars.

“As we sit, we’ve written to CAF that: ‘You know about Kumasi, but you didn’t come back to look at the Cape Coast Sports, Accra Sports Stadium, University of Ghana Sports Stadium, or Tamale Sports Stadium. The last time you came and inspected you said we need to fix A, B, C, D. We’ve done that. Cape Coast is ready, and Accra is ready. Send your men to come and have a look at it’,” the NSA executive narrated.

“This is where we are as of now. So we are waiting for them. And I can assure you if they come the game will be played in Ghana,” he informed the committee.

After facing Angola, and Niger, Ghana plays Sudan next in Group F of the 2025 AFCON qualifiers.

Source:classfmonline.com