Director General of the National Sports Authority (NSA), Yaw Ampofo Ankrah says the Baba Yara Stadium will be ready for the first game of the 2026/27 Ghana football season.

The NSA boss toured the stadium together with the board chairman of NSA, Dr Fred Awaah and NSA estate boss Mr. Ebo.

The 2026/27 Ghana Premier League season will officially get underway over the weekend of September 4–7, 2026.

After inspecting the stadium, he commended the Ashanti Regional Directorate for its effort in restoring the stadium to its functionality.

The Director General assessed the progress of pitch condition and also inspected the stability of the scoreboard and floodlights.

Speaking to the media, Yaw Ampofo expressed confidence the facility will be ready in time for next football season.

“The pitch is responding to treatment and the rehabilitation is on course. I believe in a few weeks it should be in good, stead, strong enough, robust to host football matches including the Ghana Premier League and any other international match in the need arises,” he said.

The NSA was criticized heavily after video of groundkeepers using hoes on the pitch instead of modern turf maintenance equipment went viral.

Yaw Ampofo backs the move of the regional directorate: “We don’t have the tools that are common, we will acquire them soon but I commend them [Ashanti Regional Directorate] for tackling the weeds from its source.

"In the past when the sprinklers were not working, they resorted to the Fire Service and other means to ensure the grass doesn’t die. Perhaps people didn’t understand the images but now they do”.

With Ghana’s 2027 AFCON qualifiers set to start in September, there are speculation about hosting home games at the Baba Yara Stadium in Kumasi.

But Yaw Ampofo believes the decision to host Black Stars lies with the sports ministry and GFA after consulting the engineers in charge of the facility.

Despite the improvement in work done at the stadium, there are more than three thousand seats to be repaired after violence during school sports competitions in January destroyed some of the seats.

The NSA boss reiterated that the Ghana Education Service has agreed to fund the restoration project.