The 2018 season kicked off over the weekend after some legal challenges and Kwesi Nyantakyi believes the league’s popularity was on display by virtue of the conversations on social media.

He also believes the influx of more private owners is ample proof of the league’s quality.

“The social media trends all had the Ghana Premier League in top place over the weekend and it demonstrated the level of interest among Ghanaians.”

“This is contrary to opinions that the league is dead, it is in coma and all kinds of negative comments,” he said in a media interaction at the GFA headquarters on Monday.

He went on: “If the league is dead, why Dr. Ndoum invest to upgrade in facilities in Elmina and why will Dr. Issahaku invest in a Division One team (Tamale City FC)?

The start of the league was good and the attendance in Tema (at the Inter Allies vs Bechem United match) was impressive. The fans were starved of the league by the court cases.”

Nyantakyi went on to explain that the late start of the league would push the FA to play matches during weekdays to make up for the time lost due to the court cases with Great Olympics.

He added that the FA may have to discuss the possibility of getting a special arrangement from FIFA that would allow the league to run during the World Cup.

FIFA has indicated that all leagues around the world would have to end by May to make way for preparations for the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

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By: Nathan Quao/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post ‘Ghana Premier League not dead, social media proves it’ – Nyantakyi appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The new injunction was served on the GFA on Wednesday after which the FA announced the postponement of Week 1 of the Ghana Premier League.

The letter to Olympics was signed by the GFA’s General Secretary, Isaac Addo.

According to sources, the meeting between the two parties was one of the conditions given by the Accra High Court after Olympics first presented its case to the court.

Olympics was seeking a resolution of a case involving Bechem United and their use of an unqualified player in last season’s Premier League.

However, the court said Olympics and the GFA were to settle the case out of court but instead of meeting, Olympics say the GFA went ahead to hold its Congress which marked the start of the new league season.

That forced the team to go back to court and get another injunction to stop the league season from commencing.

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Source: citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post GFA to meet Olympics over GHPL injunction appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

Linear Addy remains the only female member of the Executive Committee but her position is not permanent as she is only a representative of the constituent bodies of the Football Association.

But Nyantakyi believes a permanent female seat on the EXCO, will help in the promotion of women’s football in the country.

“Apart from Sanford World Clinics, GFA is the sole sponsor of Women’s football in Ghana. We will continue to support Women’s football at an enhanced level to give more meaning and support to Women’s football,” he said.

“Even though Ms. Linear Addy is the representative for women on the executive committee, she is there as a representative of the constituent body, so if the coaches or referees think that she is had enough of her tenure, they can ask her to step aside.

This is an era that we have to encourage more women,” he added.

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By: Citi Sports Desk

The post GFA to create permanent ExCo seat for women – Nyantakyi appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The recent crop of Black Starlets players who took part in the African U-17 Championships and the World Cup in India were given USD 8,000 as rewards for their exertions in the two tournaments.

Ghana finished second in the African tournament and made it to the quarterfinals of the world cup before being dumped out by Mali.

The finances handed out to the players led to a lot of public debate and Nyantakyi has revealed that the move will not be repeated in future.

“We agree that we need to focus on the necessary things of life and for the young players, these things are food, clothing, shelter and education.

“We should move away from the practice of giving young players thousands of dollars. These boys tend to misuse the amounts of money given to them.

A new crop of U-17 players is set to be put together for the qualifiers for the 2019 African U-17 tournament which will be played in Tanzania.

A host for the 2019 U-17 World Cup is expected to be determined by FIFA by the close of 2017 or early 2018.

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By: Nathan Quao/citifmnonline.com/Ghana

The post No more cash rewards for Black Starlets – Kwesi Nyantakyi appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The Committee was set up to plan out the adequate kind of support that CAF can provide to African representatives at the competition.

Nyantakyi will be assisted by Zambian football legend and CAF EXCO member, Kalusha Bwalya, Amaju Pinnick (Nigerian FA President), Hany Abo Rida (Egypt FA President), Fouzi Lakjaa (Morocco FA President), Augustin Senghor (Senegal FA President) and Wadii Jari (Tunisia FA President).

Nyantakyi’s appointment is the latest in a period that has seen Ghana FA Communication Director Ibrahim Sannie-Daara and Anthony Baffoe recently named as a member of the CAF Media Experts Panel and Deputy General Secretary of CAF respectively.

The committee is expected to hold its first meeting on the sidelines of the draw for the FIFA World Cup next month.
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By: Daniel Koranteng/Citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Kwesi Nyantakyi appointed President of 2018 CAF World Cup Committee appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

At an extraordinary congress held in Tamale in 2015, Nyantakyi was reelected for a third term unopposed after several attempts to thwart his reelection through several injunctions were unsuccessful.

Meetings have however been held with key players within the regional associations, who according to the GFA’s Communications Director, Ibrahim Saani Daara pledged their unflinching allegiance.

“The powerful regional football associations have held meetings with him, begging him to stay.

The faction that wants him to quit after his present term expires, point to a calculated attempt by certain individuals within the media to ruin President.

They believe that efforts will be geared towards running his best efforts into the dirt and as result should leave to pave way for others with cleaner rap sheets, less likely to be victimized.

“There are strong opinions within the football body, some thinking that its the right time for him to go.

“Those who want him out are driving that agenda not because they feel he has not done enough, but feel that because he is the leader of the federation some within the media have taken an entrenched position to soil his name,” Saani Daara told Citi Sports in an interview.

Meanwhile, key figures including deputy Black Stars management committee Chairman Wilfred Osei Kweku and Dreams FC Chairman Kurt Okraku have remained cagey with their ambitions.

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By: Benjamin Nketsia/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post GFA divided over Kwesi Nyantakyi’s future appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

Their resolution comes after a closed-door meeting at the Sports Ministry on August 2.

The fallout of the meeting is appearing a week after the discussions went on.

The two gentlemen were summoned by the Sports Minister, Isaac Asiamah, in a bid to diffuse any tension that was said to be existing between the two men.
Spokesperson of the Sports Ministry, Elvis Adjei Baah, told Citi Sports that the two men stated their willingness to resolve their issues.

“The meeting did happen and the two men were at the Ministry. At the end of the session, the two had resolved to put their differences aside and work for Ghana football. The Minister said that once football belonged to his domain, he would not be unconcerned as the conflict went on. Ghana football is the entity that suffers when such things happen.”

How did we get here?
According to sources close to the Ghana Football Association, the two men fell out after the recent friendlies played in the United States by the Black Stars.

There were reports of challenges with the team’s travel arrangements between their match against Mexico and its second match against the USA.

The team had to travel in batches due to the unavailability of a single flight. It hampered their training ahead of the USA which they lost 2-1.

Sources say that Kwesi Nyantakyi was very displeased at the development and how it made its way into the media and called for a meeting to get a briefing.

The meeting was to be chaired by George Afriyie but he was absent. Nyantakyi was then said to have gone on to blame Afriyie for the mishap.

It was said that George Afriyie got to know of Nyantakyi’s comments and responded that it was disrespectful on the part of the GFA boss to speak on the developments in the USA in his absence.

Some other sources believe that the USA incident was the final straw for Kwesi Nyantakyi who had been unhappy with Nyantakyi for some time.

The source of unhappiness was his belief that George Afriyie was leaking information to former Sports Minister, Nii Lante Vanderpuye to use in his public spats with the GFA.
What’s next?

It is unclear if the working relationship between Nyantakyi and George Afriyie will improve over time especially when there are reports saying that Nyantakyi seemed to have settled on a new vice-president.

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By: Nathan Quao/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Nyantakyi, Afriyie vow to settle differences at GFA appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

Carefully laid Plans

On days of accountability, he enters with the aura of a mobster, flanked by “well-wishers” and statuesque men from the grass roots and underworld of Ghana football, right up until the moment when he takes his seat behind the microphone.

I have been lucky to witness at close quarters one of such events which gives a peek into the thought process of Kwesi Nyantakyi, newly appointed First Vice President of the Confederation of African football (CAF).

As far as the game of football in Africa is concerned, Kwesi Nyantakyi is the second most important and most powerful man on the continent.

Prior to this new achievement, he had been elected to serve for the next four years on FIFA’s executive council.

How did the dream get this big, how did the demure boy from Wa in the Upper West region of Ghana make it to football’s most sacred corridors?

On July 2nd, 2014 at the headquarters of the GFA, the Black Stars were slated to meet the press after a World Cup campaign that had quickly gone from hopeful ,to disaster in a matter of days.

The knives were out and the tension hung thick in the air, Ghanaians wanted answers from players and the head coach Kwesi Appiah on why the name Ghana had become the butt of jokes for reasons other than football.

In stepped GFA boss Kwesi Nyantakyi calmly explaining how a delay in the arrival of FIFA money combined with emotions to stain a country’s reputation and mar a promising campaign.

In the process he exonerated himself and his entire GFA crew from any wrong doing.

The response was planned and well-executed, his journey from GHALCA to becoming FA President and retaining his status has been planned from the start and so is his recent inclusion on the FIFA Council and now CAF’s second biggest job.

He is adept at wriggling out of sticky situations as was witnessed a few months to the world cup when he was secretly filmed and framed for match fixing.

If that wasn’t enough, he staged another masterclass before the three-man Dzamefe Commission when the early evidence made it clear that his outfit the GFA along with the Ministry of Youth and Sports had connived to embezzle tax payers’ money.

The scenario was akin to a man escaping a Lion’s den unscathed. The display of wit, reverse psychology and attempted manipulation of all present was an act fit to rival the likes of Al Pacino and De Niro.

Clearly, this is a leader of high emotional intelligence and technical know-how and one that is very capable of transforming the fortunes of Ghana football.

Planning

The meticulous planning that has characterized Mr Nyantakyi’s rise to the top has been conspicuously absent from his approach to the development of football in Ghana.

His many friends and backers are quick to mention that under his tenure which begun in 2005 till present Ghana has managed to qualify to three successive World Cups,which is a great point.

Until you realize that in that time span only 8 players who play their play their football in Ghana have made it to the World Cup while 61 foreign-based players have made it in the same spell.

The 2006 World Cup recorded the highest representation of local players in the team and this was just a year after he had taken office.

Four years down the line in the 2010 World Cup, that number reduced to 3.

When Ghana participated in the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, only 1 local based player made the team.

Currently, Ghana is struggling to revive the Russia 2018 World Cup campaign after a bad start.

It is ironic that I just pulled out the statistics in the statements above from the FIFA website after sifting through the archives.

This was made possible due to FIFA’s understanding of structure and foresight of  the importance of data to the development of the sport.

When one day Mr Nyantakyi decides to walk away from the GFA job, will he be able to access a database that breaks down all the important figures that marked his tenure or will that also be determined by a co-efficient?

Minutes played, goals scored, assists recorded, distances run, shot accuracy stats among others are only a small fraction of data that athletes globally are using to improve on their craft.

In Ghana, such a tracking system for the development of the game exists only in the mind and the GFA cannot be bothered.

Data to present to potential investors of the Ghana Premier League are absent but instead, Ghanaians are supposed to be pleased with how his administration has secured a media rights deal.

After signing away the Premier league, The Division One League,The National women’s league and FA Cup for ten years for a deceptive sum of 17 million dollars to Startimes Group for 10 years, my fears were confirmed.

As President of the Ghana Football Association, the Ghana Premier League is expected to be Kwesi Nyantakyi’s biggest priority and source of pride but his actions and words suggest otherwise.

“A national team is not a District Assembly where people are chosen based on electoral areas. I don’t know any country where players are selected based on where they play” was his response when journalists sought clarification on why MVP for the 2016 Ghana Premier League Latif Blessing had been snubbed for the 2017 Afcon after scoring 17 goals to emerge top scorer.

He never took a stance when Israeli Avram Grant consistently ignored his monitoring duties of the local league and eventually dropped strikers with a combined total of over 40 goals for those who had scored less than 10 for Afcon 2017.

Protecting the best interests of the local league and planning for its future has never seemed like an important matter to Kwesi Nyantakyi.

The aftermath is a local league where journalists are openly attacked by club officials at match centres, teams repeatedly win points from the boardroom and bribery of match officials is spoken about in casual terms.

It is essential that we hold onto the few household names like Charles Taylor, Bernard Don Bortey and Stephen Oduro because the current Ghana Premier League in its state has none to boast of because it is a slowly sinking ship.

The neglect of the colts system of football that birthed these household names  is an even more daunting topic.

The system has ground to a halt and those that have attempted to persevere in these harsh conditions operate with little guidance and supervision.

Like the numbers show, we currently import almost the entire national team from abroad for matches and the mental conditioning has been done by this current GFA to hoodwink people to believe that there is nothing wrong with that manner of operation.

This is evil because on Kwesi Nyantakyi’s current momentum he might just become the top man in African football in a number of years to come but what will his beloved Ghana have to show for it?

I believe he has spent close to 50 years on this planet.

In the light of his new appointment and the strengthening of his arm on the reins of power, he should reflect on what he has created so far and what legacy he will leave behind and it is all said and done.

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By: Benjamin Nketsia/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Calculated steps: The contrasting fortunes of Kwesi Nyantakyi and Ghana football appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

Background

On Sunday, Sulley Muntari, during a league match sort refuge in referee Daniele Minelli who was officiating his team Pescara’s game against Cagliari. Muntari complained to official about racist chants against him throughout the game but the referee surprisingly flashed his yellow card in Muntari’s face in response.

But that did not deter him, he walked off the pitch but did something profound in that protest. That was when he spoke to one of the young boys pouring racist chants on him; “”I gave him my shirt, to teach him that you’re not supposed to do that. I needed to set an example so he grows up to be nice”.

The midfielder was subsequently banned by the FIGC despite having enough time to take a considered and nuanced view of the situation. To make a terrible situation even worse, Cagliari got away without any punishment, because “an approximate number of only 10” fans were involved, which apparently isn’t enough to warrant sanctioning against the club.

This incident has attracted global condemnation including Ghanaian footballers, fans, Fifpro, the UN among others. Strangely, the Ghana Football Association (GFA) and the Confederation of African Football (CAF) are pretending they haven’t seen or heard. For me, their silence is as worse as the abuse itself, literally endorsing it.

The GFA’S shame

Forget CAF, why is the GFA silent on an issue of such magnitude involving one of its own? Sulley Muntari was one of the best performers of the senior national team the Black Stars, the flagship product of GFA in the last decade. He scored very important goals for the country, fought on the pitch for team and was a huge part of the glory in the 2006 and 2010 world cups. Forget the fact that he probably triggered the team’s disastrous outing in the 2014 edition which eventually turned the country against an FA Ghanaians are highly suspicious of.

But for a man who for all intents and purposes, did his bit for the nation, he does not deserve to be left in the cold especially when the racists jubilating over their barbaric act and whole world is talking about him. What does this say about how we treat national heroes? I respect the GFA president Kwesi Nyantakyi but I am highly disappointed that he has been so silent on this issue that has dominated every football website in the world. What kind of a leader is that? Even if he has something against Muntari, this is when he should have shown great leadership, but he has failed that test woefully.

CAF’s Blame:

Racism in football has mostly been against black players and CAF, the mother body of football in Africa, is still snoring, stuck deep in perpetual sleep especially when it comes to these matters. Even FIFA is supporting Muntari even though its own rules do not permit a player to walk off the pitch in regular time. How does CAF expect the people in Italy to support Africans when it has turned it’s back on him? CAF only pretends to care about racism in football when it’s time to hold the almost cosmetic FIFA ‘Kick Racism out Of Football’ flag during international tournament. I rest my case.

Ghana government

I was really proud to see former President John Mahama tweet in support of Muntari. Ghana as a nation always prides itself as the Black Star of African.
It’s no coincidence that the player taking a strong stand against racism is a Ghanaians, Sulley Muntari. Ironically the government of Ghana is yet to release a public statement to throw it’s weight behind it own son. Let’s pretend the press release is in the mythical political ‘pipeline.’ Muntari needs our support now more than ever.

If we are silent we are all endorsing racism, period!

A continent that is so timid to stand for what is right and a continent that forsakes its children in the midst of adversity. But we will all have to remember the famous words of Martin Luther King.

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.”

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By: Rahman Osman/citifmonline.com/GHana

The post RAHMAN WRITES: GFA’s deafening silence endorses racial abuse against Muntari appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

He was re-elected to the office of GFA President in 2015 for a third term, and he has moved on to gain positions in the Confederation of African Football (CAF) and FIFA.

He has supervised Ghana’s qualification to the World Cup in 2006, 2010 and 2014, and the nation’s campaign in the African Nations Cup between 2008 and 2017. He also helped Ghana to win the U-20 World Cup in Egypt in 2009.

However, Nyantakyi believes that, 2019 will be the best time to move on to other ventures.

“Indeed, I have no plans to entrench myself in the position as it is a privileged post. At a point, I would have to leave and there is no better time to do so than when the applaud is very loud,” he said in an interview with the Graphic Sports.

He added: “I do not think I am the only person capable of leading Ghana football. I can do so much, but not everything. Besides, I think we all must take a page from the wind of change blowing in FIFA on reforms, which among other things, places a limit on the term of presidents.”

Even though new CAF boss, Ahmad Ahmad is yet to name his working group, there are very strong indications that Nyantakyi will be named CAF Vice-President.

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By: Nathan Quao/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Kwesi Nyantakyi to quit GFA in 2019 appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.