Premier League to kick-start on April 17

Accra, April 4, GNA - Sixteen football teams are to participate in this year's Ghana Telecom (GT) Premier League that is expected to kick off at all the league centres on April 17.

Ghana Telecom, the title sponsor is supporting this premier league with 4.3 billion dollars, the highest sponsorship package that the league has ever had.

According to a release issued by Global Media Alliance copied to the 2006 World Cup.

The release said the Chief executive officer of the Ghana telecom, Mr Oystein Bjorge has reiterated his company's commitment to developing and supporting the nation's popular sports and hoped that the sponsorship package would help Ghana to qualify for the 2006 World Cup. Mr Bjorge also assured the nation that Ghana Telecom and the Ghana Football Association (GFA) would work closely to ensure that both parties maximise the benefits from the relationship.

In a related development, Ghana Telecom and the GFA would jointly launch the 2005 GT Premier League programme at the Ghana-India Kofi Annan ICT Centre of Excellence in Accra on April 6 at 6 pm. The Minister for Education and Sports, Mr Yaw Osafo Marfo and the Chief Executive Officer of the GT Mr Bjorge are expected to grace the occasion.

The occasion would be used to recap the highlights of the past league season and outline the details of the sponsorship package for this year's GT Premier League programme.

A draw would also be held during the launch to pair up the sixteen participating teams for this year's two-day Gala tournament, which is expected to be played from Saturday, April 9- Sunday, April 10 at the Ohene Djan Sports stadium, Accra.

This year's Gala tournament is also to be sponsored by One Touch, the mobile division of Ghana Telecom.