Head of Communications for the Ghana Football Association, Henry Asante Twum has delivered a strong warning to Ghanaian journalists ahead of the upcoming World Cup to be held in Qatar.
Media personnel from various countries will fly to cover the world’s biggest sports event scheduled for November as they usually do but the football governing body in Ghana is advising the journalism fraternity in Ghana to avoid running live commentary in the stands through mobile phones which could be led to imprisonment.
The GFA took the opportunity to urge Ghanaian sports journalists who will be traveling to cover the event to grab accreditations before jetting off to the mundial.
Speaking on GTV Sports Plus’ Saving Our Passion show, the GFA spokesperson revealed, “In you’re found running commentary on football matches in the stands at the World Cup, you can be arrested. We’re encouraging Ghanaian sports journalists to get accreditation before going to the World Cup in Qatar.” He said.
In addition to his speech, he divulged “If you’re a journalist and you’re planning on going to Qatar to cover the World Cup commentary on your phone, don’t, because of you’re caught, you can be jailed.” He ended.
According to FIFA, Media accreditation for the World Cup Qatar 2022 is expected to open via the FIFA Media Hub in April or May 2022.
As is customary, all of FIFA’s member associations will receive a quota of written press and photographer accreditations for distribution to their national media organizations and representatives.
However, media organizations and representatives should contact their football association in late March to enquire about accreditation procedures for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022.