Abedi denies links with Nike

Abedi Ayew Pele, Management Board member of the Ghana Football Association, has denied any links of the FA to US apparel company, Nike.

An item on the Internet has linked Abedi Pele to a possible deal with Nike to take over from Adidas in sponsoring the national soccer team, the Black Stars.

“I don’t know where they got that from,” said Pele, not amused. “I don’t know who brought that thing up.” “I’ve never spoken to anybody about Nike and I don’t know how they got it. You know, its news to me,” Pele said.

The GFA chairman, Mr Ben Koufie, expressed worry about some speculation hinting that the FA may have struck a fishy deal with Adidas. “That agreement will expire on February 28, after which we will sit down, make our appraisals and enter into a contractual agreement with Adidas to produce the specimen colours we have given to them.

“That would be a bigger agreement to cover a bigger area for the next four years,” said the chairman. “So, you see, there’s nothing fishy about the Adidas deal.” Mr Koufie explained that Ghana has a memorandum of understanding with Adidas, effective December 5, 2001. That agreement, said Mr Koufie, covered Ghana’s participation in the just-ended African Nation’s Championship hosted by Mali.

Ghana suffered a 1-0 knockout by Nigeria at the quarterfinal stage of the chairmanship. Nigeria advanced past hosts, Mali, to win the bronze medal, while Cameron retained the title when they beat surprise finalists, Senegal, in the penalty shootout after 120 minutes of play produced no winner.

All three medallists at the continental championship have qualified for the World Cup soccer championship to be jointly hosted by South Korea and Japan in June. The other African candidates to the World Cup, Tunisia and South Africa, suffered early exits from the just ended African championship.