Director-General of the National Sports Authority, Professor Peter Twumasi, has said that the NSA should be commended rather than maligned for the revocation of the one-match provisional license issued for the World Cup playoff match between Ghana and Nigeria, by CAF.

In a letter signed by CAF Development Officer, Raul Chipenda and addressed to the General Secretary of Ghana Football Association on Tuesday April 19, 2022, the continent's governing body stated that it has revoked the Baba Yara Sports Stadium from hosting international matches or category A games.

Part of the statement read, “based on the report received from the CAF inspector that was onsite, we regret to inform you that the improvements made are still not up to the standards required by CAF to host Senior International A matches. Unfortunately, the level of implementation of all the CAF remarks in the stadium were not satisfactory, including the quality of the equipment and materials used in the different functional areas in the stadium.”

There has been mixed reactions to the report with many sports enthusiasts condemning the National Sports Authority for not doing enough in terms of meeting the specifications set by CAF.

Reacting to the development on Luv FM, the NSA boss opined that the Authority should be applauded for meeting the deadline set by CAF for the World Cup playoff game against Nigeria at the Baba Yara stadium.   

“I think this particular venue made a whole lot of impact on Ghana’s ability or success in getting our team qualify for Qatar 2022. We should be grateful to all stakeholders, especially the National Sports Authority for making available all the various needed conditions for it to meet CAF conditions for the match to go on."

Prof Twumasi said, "we should be grateful to the NSA for such short notice and emergency situation where we had to move the venue from Cape Coast to Kumasi and within such a short time, we were able to rise up to the occasion and deliver the place for the match which helped us qualify for the World Cup after missing the 2018 edition.

He continued that, "...I was expecting that a publication of this nature will also extend appreciation to all stakeholders who contributed to ensuring that Ghana qualified and this is what we should be looking at. As for certifying our facilities, especially the renovation work that has gone on at Accra, Cape Coast and Baba Yara stadia, we are very confident that all three, when they are submitted, all minor improvements will be done for them to be certified for this season’s continental competitions by CAF”.

Ghana now has less than two months to get the various stadia in shape before the 2023 Nations Cup qualifiers which starts in June this year.