GTA boss Akwasi Agyemang (R) poses with some DC United officials
Washington DC’s professional football club, DC United, has partnered with Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA) and the Ghana Football Association (GFA) to launch the Capital City Africa Cup where each year, the winner of Ghana’s Premier League will play DC United.
The announcement was made during the Ghana Business and Investment Summit at the Ghana Embassy in DC on September 19, 2022.
Washington DC is one of the key markets promoting travel and tourism to Ghana. With a vibrant Ghanaian and African community and a large population of African Americans visiting the continent of Africa, this collaboration through sports is intended bring the communities together while promoting the spirit of welcome to Ghana and Africa.
“This is initiative will not only help bridge the gap between the peoples of Ghana and the Washington DC, but it will lay the foundation for a strong alliance through the exchange of tourism, culture and the promotion of soccer,” said Mark Addo, Vice President of GFA.
“The Ghana FA is excited about this new alliance with DC United, and we look forward collaborating on many fronts to promote soccer in our domains,” he said.
Addo also spoke on how the FA is investing in youth football so as to develop a strong base for the future of Ghana Soccer. “We’ve now been focusing on youth development by promoting youth football,” he said.
This has been a passion in Ghana for many years but lacked support through official structures. He indicated that the FA has made significant strides in securing major sponsorship to make the development of youth soccer a reality.
“We look forward to you coming to Ghana, whether it’s for pleasure or investment to take the time to visit our stadiums and watch our teams,” he added.
“As many of you all know, the power of soccer is immense. It brings people together, and especially wherever you find a ball you find young people,” said Shanell Mosely, Director of Community Relations for DC United.
“We are honoured to be presenting you with our DC United jerseys. We look forward to this long relationship ahead.”
She presented the home jersey for DC United to Mark Addo, who also presented her a jersey from Ghana’s Black Stars. “Presenting to you this, the new Black Stars jersey that we will be using in the World Cup,” he said.
Paxton Baker, CEO PKB Enterprises, said the idea behind launching the Capital City Africa Cup is to “establish the city of Washington DC as the anchor to showcase talent coming out of Africa in arts, culture and soccer.”
He explained that the initial game for the Capital City Africa Cup is slated for March 2023 and will be an annual event taking place at Audi Field in Washington DC.
Mr. Baker indicated that, the week of the game will be dubbed “Ghana Week” in Washington DC, which will feature arts, food fairs and culture prior to the commencement of the game between Kumasi Asante Kotoko (winners of Ghana Premier League) and DC United.
In attendance was the Minister of Tourism Arts and Culture, Ibrahim Awal, the CEOs of GTA and GIPC, Akwasi Agyeman and Yoofi Grant respectively.
From The Sports Desk