Jan-June 2015: First Half of the Sporting Season Under Review

The first six months of the year has been very eventful in the world of sports. A number of tournaments took place and champions were crowned.

In this report, the Joy Sports team has highlighted the major sporting events in the first half of 2015.

Football
Football saw some exciting results on the various leagues, continental tournaments and world cups. The spotlight was not only on the pitch but in its administrative board rooms.

In Europe, Chelsea, Celtic, Barcelona, Juventus, PSG, Bayern Munich and Benfica were the big winners in the domestic leagues. Barcelona went on to win the UEFA Champions league final in a thrilling 3-1 against Juventus while Sevilla got a historic fourth Europa League title.

Tiny Equatorial Guinea proved that it could indeed stage an entire tournament given less than 3 months after Morocco pull out because of fears about ebola. Apart from the disturbing fan violence at the semi-final between the host and Ghana, everything seemed to have gone well.

The final between Ghana and Ivory Coast was destined to be one for the history books as neither said had not won a title in over 20 years. The Stars failed to shine that day as the Elephants trampled their way to victory in penalty shoot outs. Once again, Ghana lost a big game on penalties.

FIFA was busy on and off the pitch. In Zurich, the FBI displayed a carefully choreographed Hollywood-style arrest of 8 prominent football stakeholders just a few days ahead of the FIFA Congress.

The Americans have indicted FIFA, its head Sepp Blatter and other officials in a corruption investigation. Little did we know South Africa 2010 could potentially have been secured on the back of a $ 10 million bribe which found its way into the accounts of Jack Warner; FIFA’s former Vice President.

Days after winning the congress, Blatter announced that he would resign. It doesn’t look like this drama will end in the first half of 2015. In my unsolicited opinion, you don’t need to pay a bribe when you have Mandela as part of your bid against Gadhafi.

The various world cups were hosted two countries on the opposite side of the global. New Zealand hosted the U-20 World Cup while in Canada, the Women’s World Cup kicked off in mid-June.

Tennis
The world of tennis also proved it could capture imaginations. The first major grand slam got off in the Australian summer where Serena Williams and Novak Djokovic emerged victorious.

At Roland Garros, Williams once again proved she has got all it takes at 33 to be champion while Stan Wawrinka stunned world number one Djokovic in the men’s finals.

The various masters events also went in Rome, Monte Carlo and Miami which were all won by Djokovic. The prestigious Wimbledon championships kicked off in late June and will continue through to mid-July.

Basketball
The NBA is never lacks action. The Cleveland Cavaliers faced the Golden State Warriors in the NBA finals. The fairytale reunion of LeBron James with the Cavaliers did not have a happy ending as the Steph Curry-led Warrior snatched the title home to San Francisco Bay. The thrilling 6 game final saw the Western Conference emerge winners beating the Cavs 4 games to 2.

Cricket
Cricket was big on the news agenda in the first quarter. This time the attention was not on its spiritual home, Lords, but in New Zealand and Australia who co-hosted the World Cup. All of Cricket’s royalty was there from defending champions India to originators of the game England. The surprise package for the tournament was Afghanistan who recorded their first ever World Cup victory over Scotland.

Story by Ghana/Joy Sports/Kwasi Gyamfi