The last minute repackaging of Adidas-Salomon’s proposal to tie the kit sponsorship deal with the Ghana Football Association failed to materialize as the German kit manufacturer have been beaten to the apparel sponsorship deal to United States manufacturers, El-Sporto.
Sources at the FA say, the principals of El-Sporto are expected in Accra soon to hold talks with the FA where they would be presented with Ghana’s terms. The source added that, if the principals agree to Ghana’s proposal in addition to theirs then, a five-year deal would be signed.
Adidas-Salomon are also said to be interested in kitting only the Black Stars as their competitors for the Ghana deal, El-Sporto, proposed for all the national teams including the Black Queens.
The Ghana Football Association is yet to make public the details of the agreement, which would see El-Sporto selling replica kits on the Ghanaian market. It looked like a one-way traffic for El-Sporto initially but Adidas-Salomon came in strongly with the last minute insertion of an additional document, which sent the FA back to the discussing table.
The FA had to compare both proposals to find out what Ghana was to benefit and also look at the legal implications of both proposals.
According to an FA source, Adidas-Salomon, brought a letter as part of their insert to their earlier proposal just as the partnership with El-Sporto was about to be sealed, a move which delayed the deciding of the new kit sponsor for Ghana. The repackaged proposal brought a level ground of competition amongst the kits manufacturers.
FA Vice-Chairman, Emmanuel Owusu-Ansah was entrusted to study the legality of both documents before the FA commits Ghana to any deal. Investigations reveal that the FA rejected the British System of law clause, which the document submitted by Adidas demanded.
Adidas-Salomon according a source was tasked to change the law to that of Ghana. FA sources say, they Ghana Football Association would this time not be signing any deal with agents but with the main principals of the kit manufacturers.
The set back to Adidas-Salomon was because of their falling popularity in Ghana following the controversies that surrounded the kit deal for the Black Stars during the CAN 2002 in Mali and also their terms of the contract.
Meanwhile, Adidas local representative Yaw Ampofo Kwakye said their proposal to sponsor Ghana would have seen the Ghana Football Association deciding on the period of sponsorship.
The Adidas-Salomon manager, urged the GFA to respond quickly to the proposals to enable him communicate with the mother company to start designing the kits. He says Adidas is about to commence its next batch of production and urged the GFA to expedite action on the proposals for it to be incorporated into the company's programme for the year.
