The Confederation of African Football (Caf) has among others outlined 19 concerns that must be addressed before Ghana can seek re-approval for Baba Yara Sports Stadium to host senior international matches at the continental level.
The 40,000-capacity Kumasi facility was allowed to host just the Ghana-Nigeria World Cup playoffs when it became apparent that the Cape Coast Stadium – which had a conditional approval – could not host the match due to the poor state of the playing field at the time.
Along with the one-match approval, a Caf Licensing Inspector was attached to ensure some listed concerns from an earlier emergency assessment were fixed. Caf threatened to impose financial sanctions on Ghana if they were not done.
On April 4, Caf wrote to the Ghana Football Association (GFA) informing its member of the automatic removal of the Baba Yara Stadium from its approved list and remarks on the standard of the recently-renovated facility.
Caf pointed out that the improvements made prior to the Nigeria match still did not meet the required standards and even questioned the quality of the equipment and materials used in the stadium.
The continental football governing body listed as many as 19 structural and systematic problems with the stadium, almost half of which were part of earlier recommendations when Ghana received permission to host the Nigeria tie in Kumasi.
Caf also indicated it is strictly going to ensure that the latest comments and remarks for Baba Yara Sports Stadium are fixed by Ghana before any consideration for re-approval.
Caf further stated that the stadium authorities should consider initiating a complete renovation and refurbishment work in order to ensure that the stadium is approved in the future for Caf competitions.
“We recommend that the renovation plan is based on modern architecture, contemporary design, and high-quality equipment and materials with a clear project plan and specific timelines in the off-field areas pointed out,’’ the April 4 letter to GFA read in part.
Below are the 19 latest concerns about Baba Yara Stadium raised by Caf:
- The field of play is full green especially from the far range however, it has some few weeds and a lot of debris. Needs raking to remove debris and make room for more healthy grass to pop up so as to maintain the full green grass.
- Team technical benches must be increased to (21) seats each side.
- The referees’ bench is not up to international standards. Need to install standard referees’ benches like the teams’ technical benches.
- The intensity of floodlighting is below the minimum Caf requirement (1200 LUX).
- The main team dressing rooms have 22 seats each but more 5 seats have been placed around the route/pathway to the main changing rooms to an extent that the 5 players at the pathway hardly see the other players and coaches. Reorganize the dressing rooms by removing some of the walls/blocks in the area in order to have one single orderly room.
- There is need to increase the number of toilets in the players rooms from 2 to 5 (Can reduce on the washrooms since each dressing room has 12 shower rooms).
- The meeting room is not set to international standard. There is a need to organise and provide enough up to standard seats and tables in the meeting room to meet the international standard.
- Equip the referees’ dressing room with all the necessary materials and equipments as per international standards.
- Stabilize water supply for the whole stadium.
- Existent doping room is not up to the required standards. The doping room appears to be temporally set with office chairs and temporally separation of the doping officers’ room and the waiting room. There is a need to set up a permanent well-quipped doping room.
- Some of the sanitary facilities for fans are in a bad state.
- Pathways for persons with disabilities should have signage to avoid being inconvenienced by other persons.
- The press conference room is temporary organised (all seats, podium, PAS and table are temporary arranged) and not up to Caf stadium standards. Need to permanently set up a modern standard press conference room.
- The media Centre must be improved to meet all the Caf requirements.
- The media tribune must be improved to meet all the Caf requirements.
- There is need to permanently set up the Photographers’ areas behind the goals.
- Commentary box area not up to the Caf requirements. The is need to enclose the commentary area to limit interferences from the fans and guests as they get to the VIP & VVIP areas.
- The stadium is not equipped with modern electronic access controls
- The Venue Operations Centre (VOC) is not up to the required standards. It must be completely renovated, and installation of modern electronic equipment is required.
Caf’s letter to GFA:
