PHOTOS: Karim Alhassan joins Al Merreikh on loan

Liberty Professionals have loaned out former Hearts of Oak captain Karim Alhassan to Sudanese giants Al Merreikh. The centre-back recently returned to the Ghana Premier League and featured for the Scientific Soccer Lads during the 2014/15 season in an attempt to resuscitate his career after failed attempts abroad. In 2011, Karim unceremoniously left Hearts of Oak in a free agent move to join African giants Zamalek then under veteran coach Hassan Shehata but his expected five-year stay was short-lived due to limited playing time. The rugged defender left Egypt after a nightmarish experience where he went one full year without competitive action. Karim then immediately secured a deal with Turkish lower tier side Adana Demispor but only made 8 appearances for the side. He had a short stint with South Africa’s Black Leopards before jumping on another flight to Europe with Serbian side FK Radnički 1923. Now after quiet a number of impressive outings for Liberty last season, Alhassan has accepted a one-year loan offer to join newly crowned Sudani Premier League champions Al Merreikh. He joins compatriots Augustine Okrah and Francis Coffie at his new club. Below are pictures from Karim Alhassan's signing and unveiling on Monday:

PHOTOS: Donkor free kick hands Kotoko 2015 SWAG Cup

Eric Donkor scored a last gasp free kick to hand Asante Kotoko the 2015 edition of the SIC-Nyemitei SWAG Cup on Sunday. The match, at the Baba Yara Stadium, which had Asante king and life patron of Asante Kotoko, Otumfuor Osei Tutu II, gracing the occasion as special guest of honour of the encounter between the porcupine warriors and league champions AshantiGold. The first half was all spiced up by an all-action battle but was just denied of a goal. Early in the second half, both coaches decided to tweak their sides with two substitutions each as they tried to vary tactics in search for that elusive opening goal. Coach David Duncan who handed debut starts to four of his new signings decided to give respite to new boy Stephen Nyarko by replacing him with Bennett Ofori who is also a new signing. Striker Kwame Boateng who also arrived at Kotoko during the week also replaced Dauda Mohammed. For AshGold, coach Bashir Hayford chose to replace Osei Baffour and Amos Addai with new signing Dauda Mohammed and youngster Paul Abeka respectively. Both sides continued to fluff as many chances they created but as the game wore down, the Miners were forced into making a late substitution due to an injury to goalkeeper Robert Dabuo. He was subsequently replaced by Nana Bonsu. But Bonsu, a known penalty save expert was denied his hopes of putting up a show of his dexterity as he conceded a goal from a free kick in the dying seconds of referee Prince Amoah’s 3 minutes additional time. Fast-rising wing-back Eric Donkor beautifully planted in his free kick to hand Kotoko a 1-0 victory which secured the side their 14th win of the SWAG Cup – a feat which also sees head coach David Duncan going into the records as leading either clubs to winning the SWAG Cup twice. The last time Duncan won, he led AshGold to beat his current club.

Line-ups Kotoko XI: Eric Ofori Antwi - Amos Frimpong, Edwin Tuffuor, Ahmed Adams, Richard Agyemang - Theophilus Nyame, Owusu Jackson, Stephen Nyarko/Bennett Ofori, Eric Donkor - Obed Owusu, Dauda Mohammed/Kwame Boateng Unused subs: Felix Annan, Samuel Kyere, Evans Quao, Stephen Oduro, Michael Yeboah AshantiGold XI: Robert Dabuo/Nana Bonsu - Augustine Sefa, Tijani Joshua, Kadri Mohammed, Awudu Nafiu - Eric Opoku, Alhassan Nuhu, Emmanuel Osei, Amos Addai/Paul Abrka - Emmanuel Osei Baffour/Dauda Mohammed, Fuseini Nuhu Unused subs: Francis Adjei, Desmond Agbekpornu, Anthony Yerful, Isaac Afoakwa More photos...

PICTURES: Abeiku Ainooson signs 1 + 2-year deal with Al Hilal

Asante Kotoko defender has been officially unveiled as a new player of Sudanese side Al Hilal. Footy-Ghana.com can authoritatively confirm that after several counter negotiations, the porcupine warriors finally accepted a beat-down final offer of $30,000 for a one-year loan with an option for extension on Wednesday which paved the way for the centre-back who had arrived in the past weekend and already passed his medical to sign his loan agreement. According to our sources, Ainooson could earn as much as $50,000 in salaries and $40,000 for bonuses for the one-year deal with the Blue Crescent.

Per tradition, Hilal on Thursday, officially unveiled the former New Edubiase United player to the media and fans at the club’s headquarters.

Ainooson since his switch to Kotoko has established himself as one of the best defenders in the Ghana Premier League having swept two envious awards in the league and FA Cup in his first season with the dethroned Ghanaian champions. He however had quite an indifferent season just this past season due to recurring injuries. Ainooson recently showed signs of his old form while with the local national team during their failed CHAN qualifying preparations and is tipped to continue his new found form at Hilal whose new season begins early next year. Below are some other pictures from Abeiku Ainooson’s public introduction

PICTURES: Al Hilal finally sign Ashia for two years

Ghana midfielder Kennedy Ashia has finally been unveiled as a player of Sudanese side Al Hilal. The 20-year-old joins the side in a free agent move after completing his contract with Liberty Professionals. He has now signed a two-year deal with the Omdurman-based club. Hilal delayed the confirmation of the young Ghana international’s signing for almost ten days despite passing his medicals and it has emerged that it was because of an interest in Ivorian playmaker Cheikh Moukoro. Apparently, the Sudanese giants also invited Moukoro for medicals in Khartoum before choosing Ashia who scored 11 goals in the 2014/15 Ghana Premier League over him. He is expected to be joined by compatriot and Asante Kotoko defender Abeiku Ainooson who has already arrived in Sudan and passed his medicals. Below are some pictures from the contract signing:

Business-minded Black Stars arrive and train in Moroni (PICTURES)

The Black Stars look all set for their 2018 World Cup second round qualifying first leg away to Comoros on Friday. Coach Avram Grant and his men arrived in the Island’s capital Moroni early Thursday and checked in at the ItSandra Hotel before holding a mandatory training session at the match venue – the 3.000 capacity Stade International Saïd Mohamed Cheikh later in the afternoon.

All 23 members of the Ghana squad trained with no signs of discomfort ahead of the Friday, November 13 encounter. “We have no injuries which is a good thing for us. We trained well in Ghana and are hopeful of a win on Friday,” says midfielder Emmanuel Agyemang Badu.

The match comes off on an artificial turf but the Black Stars, during their preparations in Accra, failed to use an artificial playing field but the Udinese kingpin believes they can overcome the challenges that they may face with the pitch on the match day. “The (astroturf) field may affect us but we have no excuse. That’s what they have. We have also watched some of their clips and they are no bad side. The game has changed so we can’t underrate them. We have to be vigilant and concentrate and I hope that with our quality, we can ensure a good results. The Comoros-Ghana has been set for 12pm GMT kick-off time. Probable Ghana XI v Comoros: Razak Braimah - Harrison Afful, Baba Rahman, John Boye, Jonathan Mensah - Afriyie Acquah, Mubarak Wakaso, Solomon Asante, Andre Ayew - Jordan Ayew, Asamoah Gyan

Team Media Officer of the Cameroon national U-17 team Albert Njié Mbonde has described as ‘waste of time,’ Ghana’s appeal to have the Confederation of African Football (CAF) rescind its decision on disqualifying the Black Starlets from participating in next year’s African Junior Championship to be hosted by Niger next year. Last Saturday, the Black Starlets were disqualified from participating in the U17 Championship following the CAF Organising Committee’s decision that there were discrepancies in the MRI results of Heart of Lions reserves team midfielder Isaac Twum after a retest was done on him on October 1. This followed a protest against seven Ghana players by Cameroon when they met the Black Starlets in the first leg of the final qualifying round to Niger last month. “From our own point of view, we think it [Ghana’s appeal] is a waste of time. If you watched the game and you saw the guys we presented as players and you saw the difference [with the Ghana team] because we are all Africans. It is true that you need legal documents to justify your claims but you shouldn’t also forget we are Africans; we know when a player is matured and due,” Njié Mbonde told Accra-based Asempa FM Monday night. “If the decision is overturned in favour of Ghana, it won’t change the fact that our cases are founded. CAF may decide otherwise sometimes if it gets political but I must tell you that Ghana has no chance. “By the descent of morphology of ages and all of that, I tell you Ghana has no chance. They are not new to us; we know them very well so we know what we are talking about. It could have even gone to more than two players; we just want to win this case at the level of two because we know that even one player is enough to be disqualified,” he added. CAF had upheld Cameroon’s protest following adverse findings by its Medical Committee made from the MRI details of Isaac Twum and Benjamin Asiedu which was submitted by the Ghana FA in March – but decided to suspend Ghana based on the reports on the former. The African football governing body sent Burkina Faso’s Dr. Francis Liliou who serves on the CAF Medical Committee to witness a retest of the two players the same Radiologist Consultant who carried out the initial MRI tests in Accra using the F-Marc procedure for age determination on October 1. Three weeks later [on Saturday, October 25], CAF wrote to the Ghana FA claiming the analysis of the MRI report from a Medical Centre in Ghana contradicts the analysis of two CAF medical experts on the eligibility of Isaac Twum and so has suspended the Black Starlets team. Twum background A little background information gathered by FootyGhana indicates that Isaac Twum is a February 14, 1998 born per his official documents and participated in the last edition of the African Junior Championship in Morocco two years ago.

He was scouted while playing in the Schools and Colleges competition for Koforidua Technical Secondary School was eligible for the 2013 Championship after the mandatory wrist MRI scan results placed him on Grade 1 of the CAF classifications. With age on his side, Twum now 16 years had his name registered as part of Ghana’s squad for the Niger 2015 qualifiers and his MRI scan placed him at Grade 2 as at March 2014 when Ghana submitted its list to CAF. Signals picked by FootyGhana indicates that the retest results showed a slight discrepancy with that of the initial test [done in March] but Twum was still within the age limit to make him eligible to feature for Ghana – he has after seven months from the initial test moved from Grade 2 to 3 of the ratings. It must be noted CAF has a 6-grading system which is used to determine the eligibility of players to the CAF U-17 category. Players who fall within Grades 1-5 are classified as being 18 years and below while those on Grade 6 are to be 19 years and above and automatically not qualified to play in the African Youth Championship. Ghana are strongly challenging CAF’s decision as they are convinced their mother body might have been wrongly advised especially after they carried another scan on Isaac Twum from another radiology expert in Accra last Sunday. The latest scan results proved Twum to be within the age limit, footy-Ghana is informed.

Official: GHALCA Top 6 Clubs Revealed

By: Stephen Amos

The chairman of the Interim Management Committee of the Ghana League Clubs Association (GHALCA), Alhaji Raji, has exclusively confirmed to Boss Sports the teams who would be competing in this year’s maiden Globacom sponsored GHALCA Top6 tournament expected to start in the first week of September.

This year’s event which is an extension of the annual Top Four tournament would see the top five clubs of the 2010/2011 premier league (Berekum Chelsea, Ashgold, Asante Kotoko, Medeama, Aduana) and the FA Cup champions, Nania FC lock horns for the coveted trophy and prize money.

“One of the reasons the then GHALCA Top4 tournament was institued was to help prepare our clubs that would represent Ghana in African club competitions and the FA Cup champions, Nania FC have shown thier intention to represent Ghana in the CAF Confederations Cup.

By this development, GHALCA decided to incorporate and extend the number of competing teams to six(6),” Alhaji Raji told Boss Sports.

“Initially, we wanted to include the defending champions Accra Hearts of Oak but realised they are not among the top five clubs of last season’s league so automatically, Aduana Stars fit the bill.”

The acting GHALCA boss disclosed his outfit is yet to decide on the exact date for the start of the competition contrary to reports of the August 28 date.

“Since the new season has been fixed to kick-off in October, we would start the Top6 competition in the first week of September and end by the third week. The teams would be grouped into two, the top two from each grouped will be drawn in the semi-finals, then the finals.”

The following top 5 clubs as per the 2010/11 glo premier league table would be competing with Nania FC : Berekum Chelsea, Ashgold, Asante Kotoko, Medeama and Aduana stars.

The Berekum Golden city park, Obuasi Len Clay, Baba Yara stadium, Essipong stadium , Accra stadium and the Sunyani Coronation park would be the host venues for the maiden GHALCA Top6 tournament.

Fabregas Says goodbye to Arsenal players

By: Stephen Amos

Cesc Fabregas has officially said goodbye to Arsenal after an eight year stint with the London based club.

The outgoing gunners captain few minutes ago said goodbye to Arsenal team at the London Colney training grounds this morning.

A source close to the Arsenal team at Friday morning's training session just revealed to BTFTK:

"Fabregas has officially said goodbye to teammates at the training grounds. He went round shaking everybody's hand with a goodbye message.

He packed all his luggage in his locker and put it in his car and left, " BTFTK's source revealed.

Fabregas is expected to sign a five-year contract with Barcelona. He was on his way to the airport, but the plan to already fly to Barcelona on Friday afternoon was changed at the last minute.

He is however likely to travel on Sunday to Barcelona and be presented on Monday as Barcelona manager Pep Guardiola doesn't want too much noise ahead of their Super Cup encounter with rivals Real Madrid on Sunday.

PLB Announce Nominees For 2010/11 Awards Night

By: Stephen Amos

Premier League Board (PLB) on Wednesday morning announced the nominees for the 2010/11 glo Premier league season awards scheduled to be staged at the State Banquet Hall on Saturday August 13 at 18.00 GMT.

The best player categories were grouped from votes cast by coaches of the various sixteen clubs that participated in the season’s championship.

However, Wa All Stars, relegated King Faisal and Real Tamale United failed to present their nominations to the organisers of the awards ceremony.

The guest of honour for this year’s event is CAF’s second Vice President, M. Almamy Kabele from Guinea.

Below are the nominees in various award categories:

Best Goalkeeper
Stephen Adams – Aduana Stars
Ernest Sowah – Berekum Chelsea
Sammy Adjei – Hearts of Oak


Best Defender
Rashid Sumaila – Abusua Dwarfs
Amos Frimpong – B.A Stars
Edward Kpodo - Berekum Chelsea


Overall Best Player
Ahmed Toure - Asante Kotoko
Emmanuel Clottey - Berekum Chelsea
Gladson Awako – Heart of Lions


Best Coach
Yusif Abubakar - Berekum Chelsea
Anthony Commey – New Edubiase
Professor Kwame Mintah - Abusua Dwarfs


Best Behaved Team/Fair Play
Liberty
All Stars


Best CEO
Dr. K.K Sarpong – Asante Kotoko
Fred Crentsil – Hearts of Oak
Obed Nana Kwame Nketia - Berekum Chelsea


Best Centre Referee
Thomas Nunoo
Seidu Bomison
Patrick Kwaku Kyeremateng



Best Assistant Referee
A.S Malik
David Laryea
Alex Anim


Nana Poku of Berekum Arsenals would pick the goal king award for scoring sixteen (16) goals. Volta Regional Football Association chairman Francis Dogbatse would receive the best Match Commissioner award.

Edward Boateng (Global Media Alliance), Alhaji Braimah popularly known as Alhaji Hearts and Sly Tetteh (Liberty) would be awarded for their special contributions to the league.

Emmanuel Offei would receive the best camera man award and there would also be an award for the best Ghana Football Association employee.

Chelsea lifted their debut trophy after securing 57 points and maintaining a 10-point gap at the top of the glo Premier League table after 30 rounds of matches.

Sadat Czechs In At Teplice

Stephen Amos/thebossfmonline.com
Ghana Black satellites Striker Sadat Karim looks set for Czech Republic’s FK Teplice.

BTFTK bumped into the striker at the Turkey’s Ataturk Airport catching a flight back to Ghana for a Czech Republic visa after being refused visa in Turkey.

The striker had been in Turkey for trials with Göztepe Spor for three weeks hoping to sign for the Turkish side but talks stalled as a result of the recent match-fixing scandal that hit the country’s football.

In July, Turkish Police released a statement stating that there was concrete evidence that 19 football matches were fixed last season in the Turkish first and second leagues. This development is set to cause the delay for the commencement of the league as investigations continue.

Sadat Karim’s German agent, Didi Wendorff however managed to secure him a deal with the striker signing a pre-contract agreement with Czech Republic’s FK Teplice on Wednesday, August 3.

“I was in Göztepe Spor but the Turkish league has this corruption scandal so it is delaying the Super league and first division. I got a team in Czech Republic top flight but they refused me visa in Turkey so I have to come Accra for it by Wednesday (August 10).”

Sadat is a registered Berekum Chelsea player but was loaned to Ashanti Gold for the second round of last season. He previously played for Real Tamale United.