Old Tafo community, parading youthful talented players on Sunday walloped Asokwa community 4-1 to be declared winners of the 2022 edition of MTN Ashantifest Community Soccer Tournament.
The final was played at the Baba Yara Sports Stadium as a curtain raiser to the MTN FA Cup final in which Accra Hearts of Oak beat Bechem United 2-1 to pick their 12th FA trophy.
Old Tafo star boy and striker Ibrahim Wawudu scored a hat trick plus an amazing goal from Richard Addai was enough for Old Tafo to lift the cup.
Asokwa got a consolation goal from Evans Sarfo to earn them the runners up position.
Old Tafo were presented with the trophy and an amount of GHC 200,000ghc. They also got gold medals, airtime and appearance fee of GHC1000.
Asokwa community took home GHC10,000, silver medals, airtime and appearance fee of GHC1000 as the prize for the first runner up.
Tech who dispatched Dichemso 2-1 to place third also went home with GHC5000, bronze medals, airtime, and same appearance fee.
All the 12 teams that took part in the tournament also got jerseys from MTN Ghana.
The teams were from the communities of Old Tafo, Tech, Abrepo, Asokore, Mampong, Fante New Town and Dichemso.
Others who participated were Bantama,Asafo, Suame, Asokwa and Aboabo.
Individual players who excelled were also rewarded as the Best Player went to Issaka Konda of Asokwa, Best Goalkeeper was taken by Osei Kwame of Tafo while the Top Scorer went to Ibrahim Wadudu who scored a hat trick in the finals. Tafo added the Fair Play Team award to their collection.
Old Tafo dominated the final match, and entertained the fans with their fantastic display of football artistry. They also proved to be a disciplined side, and that was their magic.
The Ashantifest Community Soccer Tournament began with the preliminaries at the Bantama and Atonsu Astroturfs before the grand final at the Baba Yara Sports Stadium.
The General Manager of the Northern Business District, Mr Nii Adotey Mingle told reporters after the match, the tournament was very successful and very competitive.
He said, this year’s event was an improvement over the 2021 edition with more enthusiasm exhibited by the participants.
“We look forward to involving more communities and make the event more popular to help unearth talents for the national teams and the Ghana Premier League,” he expressed .
He reiterated MTN’s determination to improve the standards of the Ashantifest and make it more popular to attract indigenes both home and abroad with a higher level of publicity.
He promised that MTN would work towards making the Ashantifest popular, just like the Kwahu Easter festival.
“This will boost tourism in the Ashanti region and help serve a huge economic value to the people”, he stressed.
The Best Player of the Tournament, Issaka Konda said he was excited to win the award and called for more of such competitions to be organised within the communities.
He hailed his colleagues for winning the cup, adding that they prepared well for the competition and would look forward to defending the title next year.
By Sammy Heywood Okine
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