Mr Richard Nsenkyire, the Managing Director of Ghana Premier League newcomers, FC Samartex has commended the Ghana Football Association (GFA) for running the country’s football business diligently.
The Ghana FA which has come under a lot of backlash from the public in the past and in recent times on how “sorry” it’s running the league especially without a headline sponsor, has now been able to secured a deal with BetPawa, an online betting platform as the headline sponsor of the league.
The Ghana Premier league had been without a major headline sponsor since 2018, the last was a $10m worth 5 year deal with Zylofon cash. However, the league was truncated following a highly anticipated video expose dubbed “Number 12” which fingered several match officials and some high powered GFA members including former GFA President Kwesi Nyantakyi.
Quizzed on his assessment of the Kurt Okraku-led administration, Mr. Nsenkyire commended the GFA for how best it’s been able to hold and sustain the league, especially in securing a headline sponsor to help ease the financial burdens of the clubs.
“I normally don’t get so much involved in the FA administration duties, I have to be very frank with you. But I will say they’ve done very well because over the years, the league didn’t have a head line sponsor but that hasn’t been the case this season and generally if you take a look at how our league is run, it is a true reflection of how the clubs performances are. It’s quite a competitive league”, He said.
He added; “We are playing a league which as at today, no one can clearly tell who would win the league. So I think they have done well, although there is room for improvement but I would say what they’ve done is commendable. I would mark them 7 out of 10”
The deal with betPawa, according to the GFA boss is worth six million dollars ($6m). As per the GFA, the decision to bring on board betPawa is to make the league lucrative and self-sustaining in order to stay competitive.
– By Barak Mintah Brown
