FA Cup finalist to get 40,000 cedis

Accra, Nov 18, GNA - Finalists for this year's MTN FA Cup competition will receive about 40,000 Ghana cedis as the championship come alive for the first time in almost a decade.

The competition that begins in mid December will piece together 112 clubs to sell out a total of 111 games over a seven-month period for the trophy which Kumasi Asante Kotoko won in 2001. Kurt Okraku Manatey, Administrative Manager of the Ghana League Clubs Association, (GHALCA) told the media on Thursday that all participating Clubs will for the first time benefit financially from the competition that laces all three tiers of Ghana football.

The second and third division tiers would begin the preliminary stages on December 15 with 48 teams each from each tier before the 16 Premier League Clubs join the action at the round of 64.

He said Division One centers will be used at the preliminaries while extra venues will be fashioned out from the quarter final stages. All teams, according to the Administrative Manager will be zoned to ensure that distance will not affect Clubs for the matches, which he said have been scheduled in consideration with the football calendar as a guide. The Clubs will receive a set each of branded jerseys and cash motivation for the competition that has telecommunications giants, MTN as the headline sponsors following a three million agreement with the Ghana Football Association (GFA for the next three years.

The competition was last played in 2001 when the "Porcupine Warriors" pipped city rivals, King Faisal by a lone goal in a keenly contested game at the Ohene Djan Sports Stadium. 18 Nov. 10