Ghana Sports news

Eden Hazard is back in London and will have surgery on his fractured ankle on Monday.

Hazard incurred the injury in training with Belgium at the National Football Centre in Tubize on Sunday.

He was immediately ruled out of their friendly against the Czech Republic on Monday and the World Cup Qualifier in Estonia on June 9.

A subsequent scan revealed the problem to be more serious than first feared, and Hazard could now be out for up to eight weeks - a timescale that would affect his pre-season preparations with Chelsea.

Belgium, who are top of their World Cup qualifying group, two points ahead of Greece, must also do without one of their key players the next two games.

On Sunday, Hazard cast doubt over his Chelsea future by admitting he would have to listen to an offer from Real Madrid if the Champions League winners come calling this summer.

He said: "Of course, I would consider it. I am keen to win trophies. It would be great to win the Champions League. But Chelsea's goal is to win the Champions League as well. Honestly, I do not know what will happen."

Credit:Skysports

Week 5 matches of the National women's League matches were played at the various league centres after the league resumed from a break last week to make way for the Sanford Women FA Cup.

In the Northern Zone,current zone leaders Ampem Darkoa recorded a 5th win of the season to ensure they have a hundred percent record.

The champions beat Northern Ladies 5-1 in Tamale to make them the only team with a hundred percent record in the league.

In the Southern Zone, struggling FA Cup champions Police Ladies managed to pick up their first 3 points of the season with a 3-0 win over bottom placed Holy Royals.

Below are the full results

Northern sector

Prisons 2 : Lepo 1

Northern Ladies 1:5 Ampem Darkoaa

Fabulous ladies 4 : 3 Real Upper ladies

Ashtown ladies 2:3 Kumasi sports Accademy

 

Southern Sector

Hasacaas 2:  2  Intellectuals

Police 3 :0 Holy Royals

Ladystrikers 0 : 0 Sea Lions

Samaria 1 : 3 Immigration

Week 17 matches of the Ghana Premier League came off with some surprising results.

Real Madrid have made history by winning their 12^th UEFA UEFA Champions League trophy and  becoming the first club to successfully defend the title by beating Juventus 4-1 in the final.

New Ghana Sports Outlet Kwese Sports, today partnered Walkers club Ghana, one of the fastest growing health fitness network club in the capital to hold a Health Walk.

The event, spearheaded by Kwese free Sports anchor Yaw Ampofo Ankrah saw  participation from health enthusiast in the country.

It was to enable individuals especially corporate workers exercise since most of them do not get the opportunity to do so due their busy schedules.

The Event started from the Accra Sports stadium through Osu Oxford Street and ended at Labone.

As part of activities, the club registered over 200 members who had the opportunity to participate in a raffle to win Kwese Sports decoders.

Kwese Sports Sales Executive, George Anyetei, who presented the decoders to the winners pledged his outfit's support to Walkers Club and encouraged more people to exercise.

The Walk will come off again in a fortnight and the Organizers are hoping to extend it to other parts of the Country.

Real Madrid and Juventus meet in Cardiff on Saturday evening in one of the most eagerly-anticipated Champions League finals in recent times.

The Spanish giants, fresh from winning the La Liga title, are hoping to make history by becoming the first team to retain their Champions League crown, lifting the trophy for the 12th time overall.

Italian champions Juventus, meanwhile, are chasing an historic Treble having already secured the Serie A and Coppa Italia titles and are aiming to win Europe's elite club competition for the first time since 1996.

The best has been saved to last as Juventus prepare to take on Real Madrid in the UEFA Champions League final at the Principality Stadium to bring the season to a close.

Zinedine Zidane's side are within just one more victory of making history and becoming the first side to retain European's premier club prize in the Champions League era.

There won't be a spare seat at Cardiff to to see if the new Spanish champions can overcome their Italian counterparts, but that doesn't mean you have to fork out on subscription fees to watch European club football's biggest match.

The gates are open!
The fans are starting to enter the Millennium Stadium for the Champions League final.

There's still about three hours until the match between Juventus and Real Madrid starts, but the doors have opened and some fans are getting in early to get their spots.

The side that will seat the Madrid fans is loaded with purple and white flags, the team's colours. The other side already has some Juventus banners lying on the seats ready to be deployed.

The scoreboards on either side of the stadium are ready, too, with the message of 'Welcome' in English, Italian and Spanish flanked by the crests of the two clubs.

Along the side of the screen is an image of the Champions League trophy, often referred to as the European Cup.

Members of Real Madrid's first team received 800 tickets to give away to guests for the final.

Madrid received 17,518 tickets for the final, with about 15,000 allocated to club members.

The club conducted a lottery to accommodate the more than 44,000 requests it received for the tickets to Saturday's final.

Credit:Dailymail

Medeama SC Coach, Evans Addotey and his star player, Bernard Ofori have been named the NASCO Coach and Player of the Month for May.

Medeama were in sensational form in May, and their unbeaten run in the month has been rewarded with the double swoop.

Striker Bernard Ofori emerged NASCO Player of the Month, beating off stiff competition from Liberty Professionals' Samuel Sarfo and Aduana Stars' Sam Adams. 

Ofori scored four goals in three Premier League matches and also won one man of the match award in the month. 

For Coach Addotey, he won the award over Great Olympics coach, Tom Strand and Yusif Abubakar of Aduan Stars.

Both Strand and Abubakar were unbeaten in May, winning two matches and drawing one. 

But Addotey registered a 100% record in May, winning all three matches his team played. In those three matches, Medeama were in a remarkable scoring form as they scored ten goals and conceded three.

Both the Coach of the Month and the Player of the Month will be presented with their prize - a NASCO Q6 mobile phone before their week 17 Premier League match against Elmins Sharks in Elmina. 

 Credit:Ghanafa.org

Week 5 matches of the National women’s league return after a brief halt last week to make way for the Sanford Women’s FA Cup.

In the Northern Zone, current league Champions Ampem Darkoa travel to Tamale to face Northern Ladies.

The league champions picked up maximum 3 points in their last game against Real Upper Ladies and will be aiming at a win again.

In the Southern Zone, out of form FA Cup holders Police Ladies will have an opportunity to pick up their first 3 points of the season when they face bottom place team Holy Royals.

Police Ladies have picked up only 2 points from their first 4 games.

Full fixtures

Northern Zone

Prisons Ladies vs Lepo Ladies

Northern Ladies vs Ampem Darkoa

Fabulous Ladies vs Real Upper Ladies 

Ashtown Ladies vs Kumasi Sports Academy

 

Southern Zone

Hasaacas Ladies vs Soccer Intellectuals

Lady Strikers vs Sea Lions

Police Ladies vs Holy Royals

Samaria Ladies vs Immigration Ladies 

 

Arsene Wenger has again reiterated that Arsenal have no intention of selling Alexis Sanchez or Mesut Ozil.

Ivory Coast midfielder Franck Kessie has signed for AC Milan from Italian rivals Atalanta.

The 20-year-old "will join the club on a two year loan period with obligation to buy" a statement from the club said.

The club's website describes him as " a very physical player with good technique, good pace and stamina, capable of playing in different roles."

He played 29 times for Atalanta last season scoring six goals to help them finish fourth in Serie A.

Kessie has played for Ivory Coast at all levels from under-17 to the senior team and was part of the Elephants squad at the Africa Cup of Nations in Gabon this year.

Credit:BBC Sports

Former Man Utd and Chelsea loanee, Radamel Falcao, has extended his stay at Monaco until 2020, penning a new three-year deal.

"I am pleased to continue my adventure at AS Monaco," the striker said."After this unbelievable season in which I got back to my best, all I wanted was to keep this great story going. I'm convinced that this project will be just as exciting next season as we aim for the best.

Falcao guided AS Monaco to the French League title where he scored 21 times for his club.

Credit:Skysports

The 3rd edition of the annual Sheikh Sharubutu Ramadan Cup has been launched at the Holiday Inn Hotel in Accra.

Organiser of the event, Tamemu Issah, has confirmed that the participating teams will increase this year due to calls by some other Zongo communities to be included.

"As a results of calls from several Zongo communities to be considered,the organizing committee has decided to increase participation to 16 teams in this year's competition, but we wish to assure everyone that the competition will be further expanded as the years roll by."

Ashaiman won back-to-back titles in 2015 and 2016 respectively to emerge the only winners of the competition so far.

 

Defending champions Lyon claimed their fourth Women's Champions League title with a tense 7-6 win on penalties over Paris St-Germain in Cardiff.

Keeper Sarah Bouhaddi struck the winning spot kick after PSG stopper Katarzyna Kiedrzynek had missed at the Cardiff City Stadium.

PSG's Marie-Laure Delie missed from 10 yards with the best chance of a goalless 120 minutes.

Victory gave French league and cup winners Lyon a second straight treble.

The Cardiff crowd of 22,433 was the second-largest for a final since the competition rebranded as the Women's Champions League for the 2009-10 season.

They witnessed a match that was high on technical ability and defensive organisation, but low on goalmouth action and lacking a cutting edge in the final third.

But the game climaxed with a dramatic shootout which - after PSG's Grace Geyoro and Lyon's Eugenie Le Sommer had seen their efforts saved - went down to the keepers in sudden death.
Repeat Performance

Lyon's 7-6 win was a repeat of their 7-6 victory on spot kicks over PSG in the French Cup final on 19 May, and saw them equal German side Frankfurt's record of four European titles.

Arguably the most notable moment of a cagey first half was when Lyon's United States star Alex Morgan - who had been passed fit to start after a hamstring problem - was withdrawn after just 23 minutes, limping off with a recurrence of the same injury.

Lyon - playing in their sixth European final in eight seasons - improved after the break, but the 2017 BBC Women's Footballer of the Year, Ada Hegerberg, poked wide on the rebound after a close-range save from Poland goalkeeper Kiedrzynek.

Shortly afterwards, Delie had time in the penalty area to break the deadlock, but placed agonisingly wide for 2015 runners-up PSG, who have now lost in both of their European final appearances.

Defending champions Lyon had knocked out 2016 English league champions Manchester City in the semi-finals, while PSG had overcome Barcelona in the last four.

Olympique Lyonnais: Bouhaddi, Renard (c), Kumagai, Majri, Le Sommer, Marozsan, Hegerberg (Bremer 60), Buchanan, Abily, M'Bock Bathy, Morgan (Thomis 23 (Lavogez 108)).

Subs not used: Gerard, Houara-D'Hommeaux, Henning, Seger.

Paris St-Germain: Kiedryzynek, Delannoy, Diallo (Veronica Boquete 57), Cristiane, Lawrence, Paredes, Perisset (Morroni 90), Delie, Formiga, Geyoro, Cruz Trana (c) (Georges, 80).

Subs not used: Geurts, Boulleau, Baoudi.

Referee: Bibiana Steinhaus (GER)

Attendance: 22,433

Credit:BBC Sports

New Argentina boss Jorge Sampaoli says getting the best out of Lionel Messi and reaching the 2018 World Cup are his greatest challenges in the role.

Sampaoli, 57, has taken over as coach of his home country after leaving Spanish club Sevilla after one season.

Barcelona forward Messi, 29, announced his retirement from international football in June 2016 before reversing his decision two months later.

"I spoke with Leo and we're both excited," said Sampaoli.

"It's a boost for us to see how excited he is with this new stage [for Argentina]."

Messi has scored 58 goals in 117 appearances for Argentina yet the 1978 and 1986 world champions currently sit outside an automatic qualifying spot for next year's World Cup in Russia after six wins in 14 qualifying games.

Their last four qualifiers are against Uruguay (away) on 31 August, Venezuela (home) on 5 September, Peru (home) on 5 October and Ecuador (away) on 10 October.

"The South American qualifiers are very complicated. There are some very good teams trying to do the same thing as us," added Sampaoli, who has signed a deal until the 2022 World Cup.

Argentina sacked Edgardo Bauza in April after eight matches as coach.

Credit:BBC Sports

Black Stars midfielder Andre Dede Ayew believes that it is still possible for the Black Stars to qualify for Russia 2018, despite some set backs in the qualification process.

Dede is remaining upbeat about the chances of the Black Stars despite the team lying 3rd in their group, behind Egypt and Uganda.

"I think it is close to an impossible mission but people know i dont give up easily, in one game everything can change, we put everything in the hands of Allah and hope that Egypt lose a match or two to give us an opportunity."

The West ham United forward is currently training with the Black Stars ahead of an African Cup of Nations qualifier against Egypt at the Baba Yara Stadium on the 11th of June.

 

Roma have rejected a £28m bid from Liverpool for Mohamed Salah, Sky in Italy understand.

However, Sky sources are telling us that the two clubs remain in talks about a deal for the Egypt international.

The 24-year-old signed for fellow Premier League side Chelsea in January 2014, but left on loan to Fiorentina in 2015, before signing permanently for Roma in a €15m transfer last summer after a loan spell at the club.

While Chelsea only paid £11m to sign Salah from Basel, Liverpool could have to pay almost triple that for the forward, who scored 15 goals in Serie A last season.

He also grabbed 11 assists in the league over the last campaign, as Roma finished second.

Liverpool made their first signing of the transfer window this week, with Chelsea's Dominic Solanke to join the club on July 1, when his contract with the Premier League champions expires. The fee will be set by a tribunal but is expected to be in the region of £3m.

Reds manager Jurgen Klopp is also understood to be interested in Southampton defender Virgil Van Dijk, who is also a reported target for Chelsea, Manchester City and Arsenal.

Credit:Skysports

Week 17 matches of the Ghana Premier League will go down this weekend as the league gets exciting.

Italian giants Juventus and La Liga winners Real Madrid are set to produce one of the best finals in the history of the Champions league when the two clash on Saturday at Cardiff.

The Ghana Boxing Authority (GBA) have retained Peter Zwennes as Preisdent after Wednesday's congress to elect new officials at the Theodosia Okoh Hockey Stadium in Accra.

Incumbent Peter Zwennes who went unopposed retained his seat as president while Ekow Mainly-Spain polled 47 votes to Rabon Dodoo’s 29 votes to win the position of 1st Vice President.

Abraham Nii Kwei was also elected as 2nd Vice President of the Ghana Boxing Authority.

Other officials elected on the day were Carl Lokko, Alhaji Tofiq Murtala, Alhaji Moshud Zaid, and Lord Isaac Kpakpo Acquaye were all elected onto the Executive Board.

Former Ghanaian cruiserweight boxer Napoleon Tagoe expressed satisfaction with the elected executives and charged them to be efficient in their duties.

The University of Ghana, has launched a Sports Fund(UG-SF) to aid the development of sporting facilities on campus.

Yaya Toure has signed a new deal keeping him at Manchester City next season.

The 34-year-old, whose previous contract was due to expire this summer, has agreed to spend an eighth season at the Etihad.

Toure was frozen out of the first-team squad early in the season after a row between his agent and City boss Pep Guardiola, but he returned to the side in November and finished with seven goals from 31 appearances.

Credit:Skysports

World number one Andy Murray came from a set down to beat Martin Klizan and reach the French Open third round.

Murray lost the opening set on a tie-break but recovered to win 6-7 (3-7) 6-2 6-2 7-6 (7-3).

The Briton will now face Juan Martin del Potro after the Argentine progressed when his opponent Nicolas Almagro retired with a knee injury.

British number two Kyle Edmund also progressed after beating Renzo Olivo 7-5 6-3 6-1.

It is the first time Edmund has reached the third round of the French Open.

Murray, beaten by Novak Djokovic in last year's final, is bidding to win the tournament for the first time but struggled at times against Slovakian world number 50 Klizan.

"I expected it to be very tough," said Murray. "He goes for huge shots and on his forehand he can hit winners anywhere on the court.

"Sometimes you think you have hit a good shot and then he comes up with unbelievable power from a defensive position. It was very tough.

"I tried to play a solid match. As it went on I hit deeper and started to dictate more points."

Credit:BBC Sports

The Black Stars of Ghana have dropped from 45th to 49th in the Federation of International Football Association (FIFA) rankings for the month of June.

The Black Stars inability to move up the rankings is due to failure to get busy two months ago during the FIFA free date for international games.

Ghana will have an opportunity to increase their points when they play Ethiopia on 13th June 2017 at the Baba Yara Sports Stadium, Kumasi in the 2019 AFCON qualifiers.

Ghana are 9th on the African continent while Egypt are the highest rated African country in the global ranking on 20th.

Meanwhile, Brazil maintained their place as world number one, followed by Argentina and Germany.

FIFA world rankings (May position in parentheses)
1. Brazil 
2. Argentina
3. Germany 
4. Chile 
5. Colombia
6. France 
7. Belgium
8. Portugal 
9. Switzerland
10. Spain 

Top 10 African teams:
20. Egypt 
27. Senegal 
32. Cameroon 
38. Nigeria 
39. DR Congo 
41. Tunisia 
41. Burkina Faso 
47. Ivory Coast 
49. Ghana 
53. Algeria 

Chelsea's Premier League title victory in Antonio Conte’s first season as a manager in England earned them almost £151m in prize cash, with official figures released on Wednesday showing they have pocketed £150,811,183 from central funds alone.

The trial for a fourth substitute to be allowed in extra time will be extended to four Uefa tournaments this summer, the governing body has announced.

Teams at the women's Euros and Under-19 Championship, as well as the men's Under-21 and Under-19 Championships, will all be allowed the extra change.

Real Madrid's Alvaro Morata became the sport's first fourth substitute at the Club World Cup last year.

Uefa will also continue to trial the 'ABBA' penalty system.

It was first used at the women's European Under-17s tournament last month, when Germany beat the Czech Republic 3-2 in a semi-final shootout.

How does ABBA work?

As the current system stands, teams take turns in a shootout, with the choice of who goes first decided by a coin toss.

For example, team A goes first, then team B, then team A again.

The new system is called sees team A followed by team B - before team B goes again. Team A would then get two successive penalties, a little like the tie-break in tennis, and so on until there is a winner.

A coin will still be tossed to decide who goes first.

Has a fourth sub been used in Britain?

Yes. The Football Association announced last summer that it would permit an extra substitute in the latter stages of the FA Cup, from the quarter-final on.

Manchester City were the first team to make use of it in England, as Kelechi Iheanacho replaced Raheem Sterling on 105 minutes in the semi-final defeat against Arsenal.

In Scotland, Ayr United benefited from the rule change in their Scottish Cup fifth round win over Queen's Park.

Credit:BBC Sports

Goalkeeper Ederson has joined Manchester City for a fee of £34.7m, according to selling club Benfica.

City have yet to confirm the deal as they are still resolving third party ownership issues but are optimistic they will be solved in the coming days.

Benfica said on Thursday that half of the fee will go to third parties, including the 23-year-old's former Brazilian team, Rio Ave.

The goalkeeper originally joined Benfica as a 16-year-old but he was released after two years and spent time with Portuguese lower-league side Ribeirao before returning to Rio Ave.

Ederson returned to the Estadio Luz in the summer of 2015 and went on to win two league titles and three cups with the Lisbon-based side.

The goalkeeper was called up by Brazil in March but has yet to be capped.

Ederson is set to challenge Claudio Bravo for the starting spot in goal at the Etihad Stadium, with England stopper Joe Hart out of favour. Goalkeeper Willy Caballero has left City following the expiry of his contract.

City have wasting little time in strengthening ahead of the 2017/18 campaign, having last week completed a £43m deal to sign Bernardo Silva from Monaco.

Credit:Skysports

Manchester United have turned down a £60m Real Madrid offer for David de Gea, according to Sky sources.

The Spain goalkeeper was within minutes of joining Real in August 2015 only for the deadline-day deal to collapse, and he went on to sign a new Manchester United contract.

Real's offer is more than three times the £18m United paid Atletico Madrid for the Spain No 1 in 2011, and almost double the current record fee for a goalkeeper.

But that has not stopped United rejecting the bid as they prepare for a return to the Champions League in the wake of their Europa League victory.

De Gea did not play in the final against Ajax as Sergio Romero was preferred.

Credit:Skysports

Black Stars skipper Asamoah Gyan has added his voice to the lynching of captain Mahama by condemning the act.

The military officer was lynched on Monday morning by residents of Denkyira-Obuasi who mistook him for a criminal.

The former Sunderland Striker in a tweet said "Never again Ghana! Doing this to our own blood? such has gone on far too long. Lets all come to end such horrific acts. ASAP."

Several personalities including President Akufo-Addo and former President Rawlings have criticised the act by the residents of Denkyira and are calling for justice.

Gyan who currently plays for Al Ahli Dubai has been named in Coach Kwesi Appiahs's Black Stars 30-man squad for games against Mexico and the United States of America.

Atletico Madrid will not be able to sign new players this summer as their transfer ban has been upheld by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

The Spanish side were banned in July 2016 from registering players for two transfer windows for breaching Fifa rules over the signing of minors.

"This ruling is unfair and causes an irreparable damage to our club," said Atletico in a statement.

In December, Real Madrid had their ban for the same offence halved on appeal.

Atletico added that the decision amounts to "comparative disadvantage and discriminatory treatment" of the club, given rivals Real will now be able to sign players in the transfer window that starts on 1 July.

Cas have reduced Atletico's fine from 900,000 Swiss Francs (£719,793) to 550,000 (£439,873).

Champions League semi-finalists Atletico said they had "full confidence" in their current squad and were determined to continue "competing at the same level next season", having finished third behind Real and Barcelona in La Liga.

Atletico forward Antoine Griezmann, 26, has been linked with a move to Manchester United this summer., but BBC Sport understands the Red Devils have now cooled their interest in the France international.

Fifa's investigation concerned players aged under 18 who played in competitions for Atletico between 2007 and 2014, and Real from 2005-2014.

The world governing body initially ruled on the case in January 2016, but both clubs were able to sign players last summer after appealing against the decision to Fifa.

The two sides then went to Cas after those appeals were rejected, with Real Madrid's suspension subsequently reduced to cover just the recent January transfer window.

Cas' decision was due to be released on Wednesday but was delayed until Thursday, which Altetico said showed a "lack of respect" to the club.

Atletico will be allowed to register new players again from 1 January 2018.

Fifa's rules on the transfer of under-18s

Fifa bans the transfer of under-18s to different countries unless they meet strict criteria. It brought in the rules to help protect children from exploitation and trafficking.

Following Cas' decision on Thursday, a Fifa statement said: "Cas has shown once again clear and strong support for Fifa's efforts to protect underage players."

Under-18s can only be transferred abroad if:

The player's parents move to the country in which the new club is located for non-footballing reasons.

Both clubs are in the European Union or European Economic Area and the player is aged between 16 and 18 - even then the buying club must meet more criteria relating to education, training, living conditions and support.

They live within 100km of the club.

Credit:BBC Sports