The Chairman of the GFA Beach Soccer Committee Yaw Ampofo Ankrah has appealed to the media for patience and continuous support ahead of unveiling the 2020 road map for Ghana Beach Soccer.
With the new domestic football season underway after a long break, there are high expectations of a new and bigger beach soccer league following the formation of a 7 member Committee in December 2019.
However, Ampofo Ankrah has cautioned that after 10 years, alot more work still needs to be done behind the scenes before the new beach soccer road map is finally rolled out.
Ghana Beach Soccer; Some Amazing Facts
Originally formed as Ghana Beach Sports Association in 2008 under the National Sports Council
There was no officially recognized Beach Soccer referee in Ghana at the inception
First Beach Soccer roadmap was released in 2010 proposing a double tier league system
CalBank first adopted Ghana Beach Soccer in 2011 as a CSR project with Gh 40,000 cedis for the league
The national team Black Sharks was established in March 2013
In 2013, the Black Sharks maiden International Beach Soccer match ended in a 9-3 defeat to Morroco
In 2014, Ghana’s first International victory (5-1)was recorded against Seychelles at the Durban Cup in South Africa.
In 2015 the President of the association sold his vehicle to help fund the Black Sharks trip to Entebe Uganda for an Afcon qualifier
Ghana beat Uganda home and away in 2015 to qualify for her maiden Beach Soccer Afcon in Seychelles
Ghana defeated defending champions Senegal 4-3 in open play at Seychelles 2015
Ghana beat Kenya home and away to qualify for her second Afcon appearance at Lagos 2016 in Nigeria
The reigning Afcon Beach Soccer Goal King is Alexander Adjei from Ghana (17 goals) at Seychelles 2015.
Keta Sunset Club are the reigning Africa Beach Soccer Club Champions (Copa Lagos 2019)
There is still no official Beach Soccer Arena in Ghana
CalBank have sponsored Ghana Beach for a record 9 consecutive years (since 2011)
There are currently 20 registered and afiliated Beach soccer clubs in Ghana and as many as 50 clubs yet to registered