Premier league sides Kumasi Asante Kotoko and King Faisal have been thrown into a state of worry following the recent closure of the Baba Yara sports stadium by the sports ministry.
The two clubs use the facility for their home matches in the premier league and other GFA sanctioned competitions, but now would have to search for new home ground after the Sports Ministry announced that the stadium has been closed temporarily effective Monday, February 17, 2020 for renovation purposes. The development also poses headache to division one side Asokwa Deportivo who also use the stadium for their Division One League matches.
In a statement released on Monday, February 17, the sector Ministry explained that the decision to close down the stadium is “to enable the Youth and Sports Ministry and the National Sports Authority to have ample uninterrupted time to fix critical places of the stadium”.
As a matter of fact, the Baba Yara sports stadium, since it’s major renovation in the year 2008 ahead of the Cup of Nations which Ghana hosted, will host Ghana’s 63rd Independence Anniversary and the Ministry deems it fit to have some parts of the stadium fixed before the Anniversary.
The objective is to renovate the entire stadium to its newest state as Ghana prepares to host the 2023 Africa Games, and the Baba Yara sports stadium is certainly one of the venues to host the games. The overall renovation will resume right after the Anniversary celebrations.
Work is expected to be completed with the stadium ready for use in October this year.
Below is the full statement from the Ministry:
