Black Maidens Crush Accrington Stanley Before Senegal Decider

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Black Maidens Crush Accrington Stanley Before Senegal Decider

Ghana’s Black Maidens beat Accrington Stanley by seven goals to nil in a friendly on Wednesday, before Saturday’s winner takes all World Cup qualifier against Senegal.

The friendly at the Accra Sports Stadium formed part of head coach Joe Nana Adarkwa’s final preparations for the second leg of Ghana’s FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup qualifier against Senegal, with a place at next year’s tournament on the line.

The tie stands level after the first leg in Dakar on July 3, when Ghana came from behind to draw 1 1, meaning Saturday’s return fixture at the Accra Sports Stadium is effectively a straight knockout for qualification. “Now our focus is on winning at home to book our place,” Adarkwa said, describing his side’s character in Dakar as a platform to build on.

Ghana forward Andre Ayew visited the team’s camp this week to offer support ahead of the fixture, while a Namibian referee has been appointed by the Confederation of African Football to take charge of Saturday’s match, according to the Ghana Football Association.

Victory on Saturday would send the Black Maidens to the FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup, capping a qualifying campaign that has already included wins over Liberia and Togo in earlier rounds.

AG Says Aludiba’s UK Eye Booking Insufficient

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AG Says Aludiba’s UK Eye Booking Insufficient

The Attorney General has told the High Court that an online booking with Boots Opticians in London did not justify Hanan Aludiba’s court approved trip to the United Kingdom.

In an affidavit filed at the Accra High Court, the Attorney General said the document Aludiba relied on to secure permission to leave Ghana, an online booking confirmation, did not amount to evidence of a confirmed appointment requiring treatment abroad. The application, sworn by an assistant staff officer of the Economic and Organised Crime Office, asks the court to revoke its June 29 order granting Aludiba, the former Chief Executive Officer of the National Food Buffer Stock Company, leave to travel.

Court exhibits filed in the case tell a different story. Records show Aludiba was examined by two ophthalmologists in Ghana before the London appointment was arranged. Dr Stephen Akafo of Akafo Eye Services diagnosed him with allergic conjunctivitis on June 22, after complaints of watery and itchy eyes, and referred him to a doctor in the United Kingdom who had treated him before. A second report the following day, from Robert and Sons Optical Services and signed by consultant ophthalmologist Dr Naa Naamuah Tagoe, reached the same diagnosis and recorded that Aludiba wished to continue treatment with the doctor already caring for him abroad.

The exhibits also include a confirmation for an eye test booked at a Boots Opticians branch on Oxford Street for June 23, the appointment at the centre of the Attorney General’s objection.

The dispute over the medical evidence forms part of a wider application in which the Attorney General also alleges Aludiba presented a court ruling that lifted a freeze on his landed properties to his bankers as though it covered his frozen bank accounts too, in what prosecutors describe as an attempt to access the funds. Aludiba’s lawyers, led by former Attorney General Godfred Yeboah Dame, have separately disputed that any valid freezing order was in force, and have accused the state of violating the original travel order when he was arrested at Kotoka International Airport on July 4.

The case forms part of the wider Buffer Stock prosecution, in which Aludiba is standing trial with his wife, Faiza Wuni, and three others on 24 charges, including stealing, conspiracy, money laundering and causing financial loss to the state. He denies wrongdoing and continues to enjoy the presumption of innocence.

Opta Supercomputer Picks France For World Cup Glory

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Opta Supercomputer Picks France For World Cup Glory

Opta’s supercomputer now rates France as favourites to win the 2026 World Cup, giving them a 27.3 percent chance heading into their quarterfinal against Morocco.

The 25,000 simulation model gives France a 44.3 percent chance of reaching the final, the highest of any remaining side. Les Bleus overtook pre tournament favourites Spain after becoming the first team since 1998 to win every match in the group stage.

Spain hold the second best chance at 21.3 percent, followed by Argentina at 17.3 percent and England at 16.5 percent. All four were rated among Opta’s top four picks before the tournament began, while the sides ranked fifth to eighth beforehand, Portugal, Brazil, Germany and the Netherlands, have all been eliminated.

The quarterfinal draw pairs France with Morocco, Spain with Belgium, Norway with England, and Argentina with Switzerland. Opta gives Norway a 37.7 percent chance of eliminating England, powered largely by the model’s confidence in Erling Haaland’s scoring form. In the other tie, the supercomputer has Argentina beating Switzerland 69.1 percent of the time.

Morocco, quarterfinalists for a second straight World Cup after their run to the last four in Qatar, carry a 3.7 percent chance of winning the tournament outright. Belgium’s own odds have climbed to 3.6 percent, the lowest among the remaining eight sides, after their win over co host United States sent them through to the last eight.

Adu Asare Blames Assemblies For Flooding Failures

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Adu Asare Blames Assemblies For Flooding Failures

Former Adentan MP Kojo Adu Asare has accused local assemblies of managing communities through stop work notices rather than proper planning, saying Ghana lacks the will to fix flooding.

Speaking on Asempa FM’s Ekosii Sen programme, Adu Asare said Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies focus mainly on issuing notices to developers instead of drawing up comprehensive plans for communities. “All the assemblies know is to issue stop work notices,” he said, adding that the country already understands what needs to be done but consistently fails to act.

He said citizens’ own habits and weak leadership at the assembly level share the blame for the recurring flooding, and argued that leadership should not be treated as a responsibility limited to national government. He said it also belongs in homes, churches and communities, rather than being concentrated at the top.

Adu Asare said people who push for enforcement of planning rules are often painted as the problem, adding that this has allowed indiscipline to persist for years. He argued that money released for flood recovery would not fix the underlying issue unless it was tied to a long term development plan rather than spent without direction.

His comments come as government has declared July 10 and 11 as National General Cleaning Days in seven flood hit regions, with President Mahama saying the administration is reviewing existing flood mitigation measures following the June 29 disaster that killed about 13 people.

Courts Gain Community Service Option For Offenders

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Courts Gain Community Service Option For Offenders

Parliament passed a law on Wednesday letting courts sentence certain offenders to community service instead of prison, as Ghana’s jails run about 35 percent above capacity.

The Community Service Bill, 2026, establishes a National Community Service Secretariat and lets judges impose community service instead of custodial sentences for offences carrying prison terms of three years or less. Offenders placed on the programme would work between four and eight hours a day for periods of up to six months, according to Interior Minister Mohammed Mubarak Muntaka, who presented the Bill to Parliament on March 4, 2026, under Article 106(1) of the 1992 Constitution.

The law spans seven thematic areas and 66 sections covering the supervision, monitoring and enforcement of community service orders. Parliament’s Committee on Defence and Interior, chaired by James Agalga, reviewed the Bill before its passage.

The committee’s report found that Ghana’s heavy reliance on custodial sentences has driven persistent overcrowding in correctional facilities, straining the Ghana Prisons Service and pushing up government spending on feeding, healthcare, maintenance and infrastructure for inmates.

“The Community Service Bill offers a practical, humane, and cost effective alternative to imprisonment,” Muntaka said, describing the law as a step toward prioritising rehabilitation over punishment.

Muntaka has also asked Parliament to pass a parole regulation to complement the new law, saying community service alone would not fully ease prison congestion without it. He said implementation would draw on five percent of the District Assemblies Common Fund, with a quarter of that allocation going to the new Secretariat.

The committee’s report traced the push for structured non custodial sentencing back to 2014, when the Ministry of the Interior began developing a non custodial sentencing policy with support from the United Nations Children’s Fund. The new Act also gives legal backing to existing non custodial sentencing provisions under the Criminal and Other Offences (Procedure) Act, 1960, and the Interpretation Act, 2009.

Mahama Orders Flood Review After Deadly June Disaster

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Mahama Orders Flood Review After Deadly June Disaster

President John Mahama has ordered a review of Ghana’s flood response after the June 29 disaster killed about 13 people and damaged more than 7,000 households.

Addressing a National Security meeting on the aftermath, Mahama said the flooding, which struck seven regions, ranks among the most severe the country has recorded. “We are therefore reviewing the measures taken so far,” he said, adding that the government was assessing further steps to reduce the impact of future floods.

He attributed the scale of the disaster partly to increasingly intense rainfall linked to climate change, and to rapid urban growth in Accra. Rising demand for land, he said, has pushed construction onto waterways and areas originally set aside to hold and channel water during heavy rain.

Mahama said the Finance Minister has released funds from the contingency budget to finance additional flood mitigation projects, and argued that stronger planning, better infrastructure and public cooperation could significantly cut the damage from future floods.

The government has scheduled National General Cleaning Days for July 10 and 11 across the seven affected regions, run by a Post Flood Mitigation Committee under the theme Our Actions, Our Future: Cleaning Ghana After The Floods. Security agencies, district assemblies and waste companies begin work on Friday, with members of the public joining on Saturday to desilt drains and clear waste from markets, roads and lorry parks. Mahama has directed ministers, MPs, district chief executives and heads of public institutions to leave their offices and lead cleanup activities in their own communities.

In Accra, among the areas hit hardest by the floods, Mayor Michael Kpakpo Allotey has offered a 200 cedi reward for photographic evidence of people dumping waste in gutters, as authorities continue to link blocked drains to the city’s recurring floods.

Hiplife Pioneer Panji Anoff Explains His Break From Religion

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Hiplife Pioneer Panji Anoff Explains His Break From Religion

Ghanaian hiplife pioneer Panji Anoff has said he stopped believing in organised religion as a kindergarten pupil, telling podcast host Richie Mensah he generates his own faith instead.

Speaking on Mensah’s Masterminds podcast, Anoff, the producer widely credited as a pioneer of Ghanaian hiplife and a shaping influence on the sound that became known as Afrobeats, said his doubts began earlier than most people’s. Asked how young he was when he started questioning religion, he pointed to a childhood observation that “goats were smarter than sheep” and said he saw no reason to aspire to be led like one.

Anoff said he does not identify as religious, explaining that he sees faith as something each person should work out for themselves rather than inherit from institutions. He described his own belief system as self generated, telling Mensah that individuals turn to religion largely to make sense of death, while he prefers to reach his own conclusions through reflection.

The conversation also touched on broader themes, with Anoff arguing that organised religion reshaped indigenous African practices over time. He linked his outlook partly to his upbringing between Ghana and Germany, having been born in London to a Ghanaian father and a German mother, an experience he said elsewhere in the interview left him comfortable questioning ideas most people accept without examination.

Mensah’s Masterminds podcast bills itself as a series of wide ranging conversations on mindset and unconventional thinking, and this episode forms part of a longer sitdown covering Anoff’s career and personal philosophy.

Pratt Cautions Against Retaliation Over Xenophobia Row

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Pratt Cautions Against Retaliation Over Xenophobia Row

Journalist Kwesi Pratt cautioned on Wednesday against retaliatory measures toward South Africa, saying calls to expel its ambassador or target businesses risk undermining African unity.

Speaking on Metro TV’s Good Morning Ghana, Pratt, managing editor of the Insight newspaper, questioned proposals to expel South Africa’s ambassador or boycott businesses linked to the country. “What do you gain by expelling the South African ambassador?” he asked, arguing that mirroring the intolerance behind attacks on foreigners would cost Ghana the standing to condemn xenophobia elsewhere on the continent.

Pratt tied his caution to Africa’s colonial history, noting that many present day borders trace back to the 1884 Berlin Conference. He referenced Ghana’s 1960 Republican Constitution, saying it showed the country’s willingness to cede sovereignty for continental integration, and pointed to Ghana’s own 1969 Aliens Compliance Order and Nigeria’s later expulsion of Ghanaians as evidence that similar disputes have played out across the continent before.

He argued that any government response to xenophobic incidents should strengthen rather than weaken cooperation among African states, saying stronger continental unity remains necessary to reduce the region’s economic dependence.

Pratt also questioned Ghana’s decision to defer a planned engagement with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, arguing that governments should talk more, not less, when disputes arise between them.

Ghana postponed the visit, originally planned for early August, after a Ghanaian national died during protests targeting foreigners in Cape Town on June 30. Government spokesperson Felix Kwakye Ofosu said the decision reflected the current atmosphere around xenophobia. South African authorities have disputed Accra’s account of the death, saying the Ghanaian who died was not connected to the demonstrations, while the South African presidency has said both countries remain committed to continued diplomatic engagement. Reports put the number of Ghanaians repatriated from South Africa amid the tensions in the hundreds, with more said to be registering to return.

GFA Confirms 18 Clubs for 2026/27 Premier League

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GFA Confirms 18 Clubs for 2026/27 Premier League

The Ghana Football Association has confirmed the eighteen clubs for the 2026/27 Premier League season, with Port City, Ashantigold ’04 and Debibi United winning promotion for the first time.

The trio replaces Nations FC and Eleven Wonders, relegated after failing to hold their top flight status, and Hohoe United, which withdrew from the competition. They join fifteen returning sides for a season the Association says will run to a full weekend focused calendar.

Each promoted club sealed its place differently. Port City topped Zone Three with four matches still to play. Ashantigold ’04 secured Zone Two with three games in hand after beating Skyy FC by four goals to one. Debibi United completed the trio at the Accra Sports Stadium, coming from a goal down to beat Tamale City three goals to one in the Zone One playoff final.

Medeama SC start the season as defending champions after winning their second Ghana Premier League title in 2025/26, a result that also earned the Tarkwa based club a place in next season’s CAF Champions League.

The new campaign kicks off between September 4 and 7, 2026, and concludes between May 28 and 31, 2027. Most fixtures will fall on weekends to maximise attendance, with midweek dates reserved for clearing outstanding matches.

The Association said it remains committed to running a competitive, well organized and uninterrupted season for clubs, players, officials and supporters.

Jesus Set to Replace Martinez as Portugal Coach

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Jesus Set to Replace Martinez as Portugal Coach

Portugal have turned to veteran coach Jorge Jesus to succeed Roberto Martínez, who left the national team job after their World Cup last sixteen exit to Spain.

Martínez confirmed his departure in Dallas immediately after the 1-0 defeat, a match Spain won on a stoppage time goal from Mikel Merino. He had overseen 45 matches in charge, a spell he said produced the best goalscoring and points record in the team’s history, alongside a Nations League title in 2025. The Spaniard’s contract had already been set to expire once Portugal’s tournament ended.

Jesus, 71, has agreed to take over, according to transfer reporter Fabrizio Romano and Portuguese outlet A Bola. Romano wrote on social media platform X that Jesus is set to become new Portugal head coach, here we go. The former Benfica manager is currently a free agent after leaving Saudi club Al Nassr, where he won the Saudi Pro League title this season alongside Portugal captain Cristiano Ronaldo.

His managerial record includes ten trophies at Benfica, five major titles at Brazilian club Flamengo between 2019 and 2020, and a domestic treble at Al Hilal in the 2023 to 2024 season. He was also considered for the Brazil job before Carlo Ancelotti’s appointment in May 2025.

Reports from Portugal indicate a four year deal covering the Nations League, Euro 2028 and the 2030 World Cup, which Portugal will host jointly with Spain and Morocco. Portugal’s Football Federation faces no transfer fee for the appointment given Jesus’s free agent status. Federation president Pedro Proença is expected to finalise terms with Jesus in Lisbon once the national squad returns from the United States.

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