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Tag: Clubs

  • Pochettino hails Chelsea as England’s best team

    Pochettino hails Chelsea as England’s best team

    New Chelsea manager, Mauricio Pochettino has declared Chelsea as the greatest team in England over the past decade or more.

    Despite their recent managerial changes and a disappointing 12th-place finish last season, Chelsea’s trophy haul of 21 titles, including five Premier Leagues and two Champions Leagues since 2004, supports Pochettino’s claim.

    The Argentine coach, who previously managed Southampton and Tottenham, acknowledges the club’s rich culture and is eager to lead the team to further success.

    “In the last 10, 12, 15 years, Chelsea is the greatest team in England,” said former Southampton and Tottenham Hotspur boss Pochettino.

    “I know very well the Premier League and what the culture of Chelsea means. I think our fans are excited to again be on the road of trying to win.”

    Pochettino, who won three trophies with Paris Saint-Germain, acknowledges the challenge of working with a young team but is excited about the opportunity to contribute to the storied history of Chelsea Football Club.

    “We are excited to work with a very young team, with a different approach than in the past,” he said.

    “But I think we all need to understand that we have to work really hard and create a very good atmosphere at the training ground to build success for the team in the next few years.

    “For me, it is a pleasure and honour to now be involved with Chelsea Football Club. We are so excited, and I know Chelsea very well, it is one of the greatest clubs in the world. So of course, it was easy for us to make the decision to move here.”

    The club’s new owner, Todd Boehly, made significant changes in his first season, including substantial financial investment, while the squad also underwent significant changes with several players leaving and joining other clubs.

    France striker Christopher Nkunku has arrived from RB Leipzig for £52m and Senegal forward Nicolas Jackson joined on an eight-year contract from Villarreal.

    Pochettino said a “very clear project” is now in place which may take time but Chelsea still need to “be at the top”.

    He added: “From the beginning, the owners and sporting directors were very clear about the project and we were very excited to join them in this project.

    “We are here to try to help the club and the fans. In the end, the most important thing in football is for them to be happy and to feel proud of us and in the way we approach games. The players need to know that.

    “Of course, there are always up and downs in the history of football, but Chelsea is a club that it is impossible to have these up and downs.

    “We need to be sure that we bring what the club needs to be at the top because the history of the club is to be at the top.”

  • Autonomous premier league advisory committee calls for inputs from clubs, others

    The Autonomous Premier League Advisory Committee, on Monday, June 15, 2020, held their first meeting at the Headquarters of the Ghana Football Association.

    The Togbe Afede XIV-led Committee would advise the GFA Executive Council on issues such as objectives of the new format, the requirement from members and the role of the GFA to make the new format a success.

    The 5-man committee has been instituted to come up with the modalities, processes and roadmap for the establishment of an autonomous Ghana Premier League and have up to two months to submit their first draft to the Executive Council for consideration.

    In attendance were Chairman of the Committee Togbe Afede XIV, GFA Executive Council member Dr. Toni Aubynn (member) and Chairman of the Club Licensing Board, Dr. Kwame Baah-Nuakoh (member). Others included Eric Delali Senaye, Vice-President of Inter Allies Football Club (member) and Mr. John Ansah, Operations Manager of Cape Coast Mysterious Ebusua Dwarfs Football Club (member).

    The Committee has extended invitation to all stakeholders including the 18 Premier League clubs, other clubs, players, referees, match commissioners, supporters, football enthusiasts, the media, corporate Ghana and all participants in football to submit inputs through proposals and memoranda for consideration through info@ghanafa.org on or before Friday, July 17, 2020.

    The Autonomous Premier League Advisory Committee also indicated its intention to engage club owners and other key stakeholders as part of its quest to ensure that all views are brought into their work.

    Source: ghanafa.org

  • Clubs need to invest in talented players – Asiedu Attobrah

    Former New Edubiase Football Club (FC) midfielder, Abraham Asiedu Attobrah has emphasized the need for clubs in the country to invest in talented players.

    Speaking to Ashaiman TV, the former Ghana U-20 offensive midfielder has indicated that the level of play in the Premier League has taken a nosedive.

    According to him, he watched Hearts of Oak’s Super Clash with Asante Kotoko before the football season was suspended and was not impressed by the level of play he witnessed.

    He is, therefore, urging club administrators of the various teams to pay attention to making investments into players with talent rather than signing raw players who will not add quality to the team.

    “I watched the Hearts vs Kotoko game in Accra before the Covid-19. I did not see any quality football in that game. It was only Mudasiru who impressed me, it is so unfortunate he got injured and was replaced.

    “In Ghana, our game is all about talent. Our club management and administrators must help players with talent. They should spend on players with talent, not raw players”, the midfielder said.

    Asiedu Attobrah, 24, is a former player for Ashanti Gold SC and is relishing playing for any of the Ghanaian giants after ending his stint with Iraqi side Al-Shorta.

    Source: footballghana.com

  • French clubs call for fans to be allowed back to games next season

    Struggling French football clubs have called for fans to be allowed into matches in time for the start of next season and urged the country’s government to provide financial help after the early end to this campaign due to the coronavirus pandemic.

    The season was declared over early at the end of April, at the height of the pandemic and with 10 rounds of matches unplayed, after Prime Minister Edouard Philippe announced that football could not restart. Paris Saint-Germain were named Ligue 1 champions.

    With leagues in neighbouring countries having since restarted or set to return to action soon, various voices in the French game have criticised the decision to end the season early rather than waiting for the health crisis to subside.

    France has been one of the worst-hit countries in the world by the pandemic, with almost 29,000 deaths, but the situation has improved and a strict lockdown has been steadily eased in recent weeks.

    However, in a joint statement on Tuesday, the unions of clubs in the top two divisions admitted that the league and French Football Federation were left with “no other choice” but to bring a premature end to the season following the government’s announcement.

    “But rather than looking in the rear-view mirror, we prefer to look forward,” the statement added.

    They said they were working to put in place a “health protocol” and on a return to collective team training while also hoping to “organise training camps and friendly matches in the presence of spectators, with the start of next season in stadiums open to large crowds”.

    In addition, the clubs called on the government “to find solutions” for their economic woes after already nearly three months without income principally due to the loss of ticketing and broadcasting revenue.

    Several club executives have said the early end to the season has left French football with a financial black hole of between 500 million and 800 million euros ($559-895 million).

    Meanwhile, the head of the company that has become the main domestic broadcaster of Ligue 1 in a record deal starting next season has slammed the decision to end the season early, calling it a “strategic error”.

    “There was a strategic agreement between the leading leagues and UEFA to finish the season,” said Jaume Roures, the Spanish chief executive of Mediapro, at the launch of his company’s new channel Telefoot on Tuesday.

    “For us, breaking that pact was a strategic error.”

    Mediapro won the bulk of the rights to show Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 matches for four years starting next season in a total deal worth a record 1.217 billion euros ($1.36 billion) annually.

    However, Roures expressed concern that his company’s new product would be diminished with struggling clubs being forced to sell players.

    “That could affect the quality of the competition next season and obviously we are not going to be happy if that happens.”

    Source: france24.com

  • Autonomous league will reduce your influence Ex-GHALCA Chairman tells Kurt Okraku

    Former Chairman of Ghana Leagues Clubs Association [GHALCA], Alhaji Ali Raji has cautioned Ghana Football Association [GFA] President, Mr Kurt Okraku to be cautious of the implementation of the autonomous league.

    The Ghana FA has announced its decision to make the Premier League autonomous.

    But Mr Raji believes that the influence of the President will be drastically reduced if the GFA loses control on the league.

    “I am surprised about the eagerness of the new GFA President to see the league go autonomous, it will greatly reduce the influence of the President,” he told Akoma FM.

    ”Ghana Football is all about the league and therefore if he loses influence and control on the league, where lies his authority again,” he added.

    The GFA Executive Council outlined steps to make the Ghana Premier League autonomous a couple of days ago.

    Pursuance to that, Premier League Clubs nominated three eminent persons to serve on the Autonomous Committee tasked with the responsibility of developing the modalities and the road map to make the league autonomous and independent of the Ghana Football Association.

    Togbe Afede XIV, Mr John Ansah and Delali Senaye will be joined by two persons selected by the GFA to begin the process.

    Source: footballghana.com

  • Kwabena Yeboah courts government support for GFA, local clubs

    President of the Sports Writers Association of Ghana (SWAG), Kwabena Yeboah wants government to extend a helping hand to the Ghana Football Association and the local football clubs during these challenging times for clubs.

    The CoronaVirus pandemic has caused a shutdown of all football activities in Ghana leading to the GFA and the clubs suffering financial implications.

    Most clubs are struggling to cope with the financial strain this period has brought and have already initiated steps to enforce certain cost cutting measures.

    Featuring prominently among such interventions is the idea of implementing pay cuts which has been widely criticized.

    Kwabena Yeboah believes that for the football clubs to survive, government will need offer them support by way of the COVID-19 stimulus package.

    “The Ministry of Youth and Sports and the central government must in a way try and come to the aid of the football association and by extension the clubs to ensure their survival,” he told the PM Express Show on Joy News.

    “Because there is absolutely no way that if they do not benefit from the form of stimulus package from the central government, these clubs can survive. The only way these clubs is for the central government to come to their aid” he continued.

    Source: footballmadeinghana.com

  • Ghanaian clubs to spend minimum $3,000 each per week for coronavirus test

    Ghanaian clubs will have to cough a minimum of $3,000 each a week to test for Coronavirus before every league match.

    It will cost each player at least $100 per test as the future of the current Ghana football seasons continues to dominate inches in the local media.

    Ghanaian football players, coaches and other supporting staff will be required to take a test for the Coronavirus pandemic before training sessions or matches if the Ghana FA is given a seal of approval to re-start football.

    The team’s medical team will then assess whether players and coaches are healthy enough to take part.

    That clearly will put a further financial strain on local clubs who are already grappling with massive cost due to the suspension of football due to the Coronavirus.

    Testing of players and coaches will be a requisite tool before football can restart in the West African nation.

    Already, the Ghana Football Association has warned clubs against training following the lifting of the lockdown by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akuf- Addo while the league remained suspended.

    Ghana football has been suspended since March because of the global pandemic.

    There is no set date for when the campaign can resume in Ghana, with several outstanding fixtures still to play.

    The Ghana FA has says it will communicate a final decision on the 2019/2020 football season on June 30.

    While there have been no reported case of a footballer contracting the novel virus, the heath authorities are determined to adhere to the strict protocols to prevent a further outbreak.

    Source: Ghana Soccernet

  • Prepare a document to back any pay cut decision you take – Ashford Tetteh-Oku tell clubs

    A former Ghana Premier League Board chairman, Ashford Tetteh-Oku has advised clubs to make sure they have a document to back any decision they make with players in relation to a pay cut.

    Some top-flight clubs in the country are in talks with their players to take some percentage of their monthly salary to help the club to survive the financial challenges they are facing.

    According to Ashford Tetteh-Oku, clubs must not force the pay cut on players but should reach an amicable agreement.

    While he elaborates on how the imposition can have a blowback, he is advising the clubs to ensure that they do a paperwork should a decision be taken.

    Ashford Tetteh-Oku told Kumasi FM, “It is up to both parties to reach a compromise but even with that there should be a document to back it”.

    He further shared that because the players are not the cause of the Coronavirus, they are not obliged to necessarily accept the pay cut.

    “It is for the management and administrators of our clubs to learn. When contracts are signed, you must look at force majeure situations. If you do not and something happens why should the player suffer?”, he added as he rhetorically asked.

    Source: footballghana.com

  • Clubs in Austria commence training as players wear face masks

    The Minister of Labour in Austria is considering a mask requirement for football to return to the country.

    This is expected to guarantee the safety of the players amid the coronavirus pandemic.

    Red Bull Salzburg returned to training this week with Ghana youth international Majeed Ashimeru spotted wearing a face mask.

    Samuel Tetteh also returned to training with his Austrian Bundesliga side LASK Linz.

    In Germany, the Bundesliga has been warned that playing games behind closed doors could pose a public health risk because fans will gather in front of stadiums.

    The authorities are looking for a way to resume the 2019-20 campaign despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

    Source: Ghana Soccernet

  • GHPL: Clubs to receive USD 30,000 each from StarTimes this season

    The Ghana Football Association has announced the yearly breakdown of Sponsors payments expected from the Star Times Television Broadcast Rights Agreement.

    The yearly breakdown was explained to the 18 Premier League Clubs during their meeting with the GFA on Tuesday.

    Below is the breakdown:

    YEAR 1 2019/20 season

    Components

    Premier League – $700,000

    FA Cup – $150,000

    Visibility support to DOL & Women football – $100,000

    TOTAL CASH FEES – $950,000.00

    YEAR 2 2020/21 season

    Components

    Premier League – $750,000

    FA Cup – $200,000

    Visibility support to DOL & Women football – $50,000

    TOTAL CASH FEES – $1,000,000.00

    YEAR 3 2021/22 season

    Components

    Premier League – $800,000

    FA Cup – $200,000

    Visibility support to DOL & Women football – $50,000

    TOTAL CASH FEES – $1,100,000.00

    EAR 4 2022/23 season

    Components

    Premier League – $850,000

    FA Cup – $200,000

    Visibility support to DOL & Women football – $50,000

    TOTAL CASH FEES – $1,100,000.00

    YEAR 5 2023/24 season

    Components

    Premier League – $850,000

    FA Cup – $250,000

    Visibility support to DOL & Women football – $50,000

    TOTAL CASH FEES – $1,150,000.00

    TOTAL = $5250,000.00

    Source: ghanafa.org