WAFU Cup: Nigeria/Ghana fixture will enhance competition’s profile – Journalist

William Ezah, a Ghanaian sports journalist, on Wednesday said a Nigeria versus Ghana fixture in the 2017 West African Football Union (WAFU) Nations Cup final would improve the competition’s profile.

Ezah, who is Deputy Sports Editor of Ghana News Agency (GNA), told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan that such a situation would therefore boost the competition’s fan base.

He said such a match would expectedly be a show of strength, and it would help the event to remain as a great competition in the minds of the spectators.

“Over the years we have been trying to institutionalise WAFU, even though because of funding or sponsorship, it has been very difficult to keep playing it year after year or every two years.

“But we are now trying to see how we can make it regular, just like the COSAFA Cup, and this year marks the beginning of an attempt to make it feature on the West African football calendar.

“So, it is good for the sub-region,’’ Ezah, who is also the Secretary-General of the Sports Writers Association of Ghana (SWAG), told NAN on the sidelines of the 5^th Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games (AIMAG) in Turkmenistan.

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NAN reports that COSAFA Cup is organised for national teams of member-nations of the Council of Southern Africa Football Associations (COSAFA).

The Ghanaian sports journalist added that the Nigeria/Ghana fixture in the group phase has already done a big favour for the competition.

“Initially people were not following the competition. But now there is a lot of followership on a daily basis and this is because Nigeria and Ghana are in the semi-finals.

“So, you can imagine how it will be if both teams also meet in the final match,’’ Ezah said.

NAN reports that Nigeria will take on Republic of Benin in Thursday’s semi-finals, while Ghana will face Niger Republic in the other semi-final pairing.