The Ghana Football Association (GFA) says there was no chance that Ghana’s World Cup qualifying fixture versus Nigeria could have been hosted outside Cape Coast.
After beating South Africa 1-0 and qualifying for the knockout round, the Black Stars were drawn to face the Super Eagles in a two-legged tie for a World Cup spot.
All 2022 World Cup qualifying home games of the Black Stars have been hosted at the Cape Coast sports stadium. But the GFA through the NSA, were informed that the venue had been chosen by government to host this year’s independence day celebrations.
However communications director of the GFA Henry Asante-Twum, says due to CAF regulations, the game cannot be moved from Cape Coast, following the NSA’s suggestion for other venues to be considered.
“We’ll play in Cape Coast, we have already communicated to CAF. there are regulation that govern football and need to be followed judiciously. 90 days to every game, you need to confirm your venue. Unfortunately at the time CAF wanted us to confirm our venue, government hadn’t informed us that they would use the Cape Coast stadium for the 6th March independence celebration.
“So Kumasi never came up because at that time we did not even submit Kumasi during the main World Cup qualifiers so if it is government or the NSA had engaged us at the time, we could have communicated to CAF to then send people to come and inspect the Kumasi sports stadium. I’m sure if we had done that in November, all this will not have come up. Once we have communicated to CAF we will play in Cape Coast, it is non-negotiable.” Asante-Twum said in a JoyNews interview.
The Black Stars will face the Super Eagles in Cape Coast on March 24, before flying to Abuja for the second leg on March 27.