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24.01.2015 Sports News

First Capital Plus Pays GFA GH¢1.17m

24.01.2015 LISTEN
By Daily Guide

First Capital Plus Bank, headline sponsors of the Ghana Premier League, has presented a cheque of GH¢1,170,150 to the Ghana Football Association (GFA).

The amount represents 25 percent and the first tranche of the sponsorship sum for the 2014/2015 premier league season.

First Capital Plus Bank signed a five-year deal worth $10 million with the GFA last year as headline sponsors of the league.

However, the commencement of the league has delayed due to a legal tussle, with the first match played only last weekend.

The wholly owned Ghanaian bank also presented brand new sets of referee's jerseys to the GFA for distribution to the Ghana Referees Association.

The Chief Executive Officer of the bank, John Kofi Mensah, who presented the cheque at a press conference in Accra said, 'This is to affirm our support for the First Capital Plus Premier League and to assure Ghanaians that First Capital Plus Bank is deeply committed towards impacting society through football.

'As an indigenous bank, we are conscious of the fact that many livelihoods are dependent on our sponsorship of the league and it is in these times that all of us should rally behind the league and intensify our efforts towards promoting it.'

Mr Mensah commended the media for their good work in promoting the league so far, and encouraged them to continue to support the league through positive reportage and information flow.

'We would like to see more conscious efforts towards the promotion of the First Capital Premier League as a patriotic call to duty,' he underscored.

Mr Mensah entreated the clubs to ensure effective information flow to the media through regular press engagements, pre and post-match press conferences and to be more proactive and aggressive in their efforts towards reaching out to their fans and indigenes in their respective local areas.

Appeal To Clubs
He also appealed to the clubs not to be quick to offload their best players since it prevents these players from fully reaching their potential, adding that 'It also deprives the local game of the needed excitement since it is these players who set the league alight.'

To encourage the growth of the sport on the local scene, Mr Mensah said it would be important for the GFA to set a quota for a minimum number of local players to be included in the Black Stars.

'We believe that this proposal will bolster the confidence of the local players since they know that they need not necessarily go outside the shores of the country to gain the needed recognition,' he said.

He expressed the hope that if football is properly managed and promoted in any African country, it can significantly catalyse economic growth comparable to the influence of the black gold.

Fred Crentsil, Vice President of GFA, who received the cheque, commended the bank for honouring the contract agreement, assuring that measures would be put in place to make the league attractive again.

The vice president gave the assurance that First Capital Plus Bank would derive the benefit as stated in the contract agreement.

'We have put media officers at all the centres to give the First Capital Premier League the necessary publicity,' he added.

By Cephas Larbi
[email protected]

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