Beach Soccer: Ghana climbs to 19th in latest FIFA rankings

Ghana's beach soccer national team, the Black Sharks continue their steady rise on the international scene after leaping to the 19th position on the latest FIFA world ranking.

The rankings published by the Beach Soccer Worldwide (BSWW) takes into account performances of member associations in FIFA –BSWW endorsed competitions from January to May 2015.

The statistics suggest that 2015 has so far been the best year for Ghana Beach Soccer with the Black Sharks recording their first ever international victory in a 8-2 trashing if Seychelles at the PowerHorse Beach Soccer Tournament in Durban.

The Sharks went on to secure qualification to the maiden edition of the CAF Beach Soccer Nations Cup, beating Uganda in an impressive 22-3 home and away aggregate victory.

The tournament proper, held in Seychelles saw the Sharks defeat then defending champions Senegal 5-3 and recording another impressive 12-0 win over the hosts.

Sharks striker Alexander Adjei also picked up the goal king award. He ended the tournament with an incredible haul of 17 goals in five matches.

Meanwhile, the commencement of the new beach soccer season has been put on hold until the arena is rehabilitated. lt would be recalled that three successive tidal waves battered the La beach soccer arena immediately following the catastrophic floods that hit Accra.

The initial assessment of damage found that an amount of at least Gh32,000 would be needed to rehabilitate the arena to host beach soccer matches.

Yaw Ampofo Ankrah, who is the founder and President of Beach Soccer Ghana has reiterated the need to massively invest in infrastructure and allow the sport to flourish.

With the Black Sharks climbing one spot above team USA, it is expected that corporate Ghana would see this as an obvious avenue to associate with a clean developing sports brand.