The Chairman of the GFA Stars/Times Gala committee, Kurt E. S. Okraku has expressed their gratitude to StarTimes and Groupe Nduom for their decision to support the revival of the once exciting mini competition.
Kurt, who doubles as the Chairman of the MTN FA Cup committee explained the difficulty in getting sponsors and partners to support the relaunch of the competition.
”After a long search, the FA was able to find the right and perhaps the best partner, StarTimes” said the Committee Chairman. “The last time the Gala was staged in Accra was way back in 2005” he added.
“It’s been 13 years down the line and we’ve tried to revive this two-day fiester, which used to herald the new season” he said at the launch of the competition in Accra on Wednesday.
”We are happy that, the Almighty God has opened the door through the kind courtesy and support of StarTimes and Groupe Nduom and today we are here to again converge, know ourselves, and network to enjoy association football” said Kurt.
”As we all know, the traditional home of the Gala has always been at the Accra Sports Stadium but we have some challenges with the facility. Therefore, the Football Association needed the right venue to revive competition.
“We made a short journey to the Central Region and to Groupe Nduom and believe me, they didn’t sleep over the request. Groupe Nduom offered to support the revival of competition with the release of their facilities” he said with delight.
Teams invited from the Division One and Premier Leagues will participate in the competition on February 3 and 4, 2018. Each game will be played 40 minutes, 20 minutes on each half and if a winner does not emerge after regulation time, the game will go straight into penalties.
The final game will have a regulation time of 60 minutes – 30 minutes at each half and it will head into penalties if there’s no winner in regulation time.
Each of the 16-participating club is expected to receive US$2500 as appearance fees with the winner getting up to US$3500 more, making it $6000. Asante Kotoko won the last competition organised in 2005.
