Dreams FC’s General Manager, Ameenu Shardow, has expressed his concern about offering free entry to the Baba Yara Sports Stadium before their semi-final second leg against Zamalek, stating that it doesn’t augur well for Ghanaian football.
Shardow made these remarks during an appearance on CITI TV’s Football Made in Ghana on Wednesday, May 1, 2024, with Host Bennard Abeiku Okyere, where he discussed both the successes and challenges encountered during their impressive journey in the CAF Confederation Cup this season.
Personally, my personal view, i don’t like this free thing, because it builds a wrong cultural mentality about our game.
It’s the semi-final of a CAF game, it should mean something to the people of Ghana.
In EUROPE people buy tickets, not just because they want to buy, but they attach sentimental value to the tickets.
Personally, i fought the decision of the free gate thing, but you know the situation in Ghana.
We are in the semi-finals, we saw what they did to us at the Cairo International Stadium, so we wanted to do same by filling the stadium and to be honest the plan worked to perfection. Look at the turn out at the stadium, it was impressive at the Baba Yara Sports Stadium, but unfortunately we lost by three goals to zero.
Shardow also elaborated on his perspective regarding the management of the national stadiums by the National Sports Authority, which hinges on the reliance on gate proceeds from matches.
He asserts that the National Sports Authority’s argument is fundamentally flawed.
Maintaining the facilities should not hinge on the gate proceeds we get from matches. Facility management goes beyond gate proceeds and you see all through this competition, we almost played vitually an empty stadium.
So how were they maintaining the stadium, so that argument by the National Sports Authority is not sustainable.
We went to Nigeria for the CAF Confed Cup, the stadiums were in very good condition, even with Mali who had 42 degrees celcius at the time, but they had thier stadium in a very good condition.
Dreams FC made an exciting announcement for fans eagerly awaiting the second-leg showdown against Zamalek in the CAF Confederation Cup at the Baba Yara Sports Stadium on Sunday, April 28, 2024.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, April 23, 2024, the club’s management declared that entry to the match would be completely free for all fans.
However, for those seeking a premium experience, VIP and VVIP sections are available at reasonable prices of GHS 20 and GHS 50 respectively.
Full Statement here:
