The decision to host Ghana’s opening 2015 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers against Uganda in Kumasi was primarily based on the deteriorating facilities at the Accra Sports Stadium, the Ghana FA has confirmed.
The Black Stars will be playing once more return to the Baba Yara Stadium in their opening AFCON qualifiers against the Cranes of Uganda having played its entire home games in the 2014 World Cup qualifying series at the same venue.
The playing surface at the capital’s stadium has been a constant worry for many soccer fans in recent times.
The green colour of the pitch is almost lost to what appears to be a grey, dry surface.
This apart from making it difficult for free flowing football and raises the threat of injury to players, translates into poor television pictures during live and repeated broadcast.
The seats at the media stand also has been engulfed in dust with most of its electrical sockets and internet facilities completely non-operational – below the standards required for international matches of such magnitude.
The views of Ghana coach Kwesi Appiah dominates the decision making process on the venue of home matches for the Black Stars but GFA spokesman Ibrahim Sannie Daara says the poor facilities at the Accra Sports Stadium makes this decision a straight one.
“Decisions of where matches are played is largely determined by the coach,” he told Aempa FM.
“But then we took the state of the pitch in Accra in to consideration in taking the decision.
“The pitch and other facilities [in Accra] is not in its best of shapes and we want to ensure we present ourselves well to the outside world.
“The surface in Kumasi is better than that of Accra and it was key in taking the decision.”
Ghana will host Uganda on September 5 in Kumasi before making the short trip five days later to battle Togo in Lome.
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