According to Kwame Opare Addo, director of communications for Hearts of Oak, the team is taking the President's Cup match against bitter rivals Asante Kotoko very seriously and will start preparing well in advance.
Both teams will rekindle their legendary rivalry when the 2025 edition of the annual match takes place on July 6 at the Accra Sports Stadium.
Hearts will be eager to break that streak in front of home fans as they have lost their last five meetings with Kotoko.
GHALCA President John Ansah and Ministry of Sports and Recreation Director William Katey Opare Addo spoke during the match's official kickoff, where they emphasized the value Hearts place on the game despite the present off-season vacation.
Because we take this particular assignment seriously, we will make sure that even though the team is on break, they return on June 19 and begin preparations so that, at the end of the day, we can send the Hearts of Oak family home after the game with good news, he stated.
Kotoko and Hearts both finished in the top four at the end of the 2024–25 Ghana Premier League season.
GHALCA explained that the current Ghanaian president has the final say over which teams will compete in the President's Cup.
Another noteworthy piece from today's sports coverage is this one.
Reasons to try the FIFA Club World Cup expansion.
Without a doubt, the idea behind the first-ever 32-team FIFA Club World Cup is beneficial to the sport from almost every angle. Although the club game is the foundation of the entire sport, teams from other continents had almost no chance to compete against one another.
It is an opportunity for the rest of the world to show off their skills in a globalized world where the major European clubs from the major leagues dominate.
Tlhopie Motsepe, president of South Africa's Mamelodi Sundowns, who will play their first match against Ulsan of South Korea on June 17, stated, "We are there to compete, but also to represent what African quality looks like."
"People may ask, 'Wow, do you remember the South African team?' when we return. Do you recall how they performed? I find that exciting. That would be considered a success.
Gianni Infantino, the president of FIFA, stated five years ago that he hoped to open up the sport and create a path to "at least 50 clubs from all continents" playing "at a top competitive level."
We can be as skeptical of his intentions as we like, but it is undeniable that allowing clubs other than the European powerhouses to compete is a small but important first step in that direction.
Perhaps the system is broken, the obstacles are too high, and no one outside of the fifteen or so clubs that make up the European elite will ever be a major force on a worldwide scale.
In other words, without funding massive, unsustainable losses, like the Saudi Pro League clubs are attempting to do. But they will not get there without a worldwide club tournament. The point is that.
However, you do not have to overlook this tournament's drawbacks. Many players are already exhausted after a long European season, which is why groups like the Players' Union and FIFPro have raised the alarm and even filed a lawsuit against FIFA.
As demonstrated by the arguments between Infantino and UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin, it has seemed from the beginning that this entire situation was motivated by money and sucking up to the large, lucrative European clubs.
Even under this version, less than half of the prize money is awarded based on merit; the remainder is distributed according to what FIFA refers to as a "participation pillar," which sounds a lot like a "appearance fee," with teams like Real Madrid receiving many times as much as Auckland City.
The exclusion of Lionel Messi and Inter Miami to represent the host country as Supporters' Shield winners rather than Major League Soccer champions betrays the same desire to enlist the major names.
Another factor is that FIFA essentially overpromised. They predicted that the tournament would bring in over $2 billion, with half a billion coming from sponsorship, another half a billion from ticket sales, and one billion from broadcast rights.
They might make it, but if they do, Infantino might be able to thank his Saudi Arabian friends who have helped out with sponsorships and a billion-dollar investment in the streaming service DAZN, which reportedly spent a billion dollars in December to purchase the competition's worldwide media rights.
Earlier this week, tickets for the tournament opener between Inter Miami and Al Ahly, which were initially priced between $250 and $350, were reduced to as low as $55. Even though there were still thousands of tickets left for the kickoff, Infantino was ensuring a sellout.
We will find out soon enough, but it is quite clear that someone's predictions were completely off if the home team (Inter Miami) is unable to sell out the first game, even with one of the undisputed GOATs (that Messi guy) on the field.
It should if all of this leaves a terrible taste. FIFA might have marketed this competition by emphasizing its significance and potential for future growth. Or they might have just stated that their main goal was to put on a profitable event.
Rather, they attempted to do both; for instance, Auckland City would not exist if it were only about the money.
Despite everything, there is one unquestionable reality. In a way that has never been possible before, the world of club soccer is coming together.
Geographically excluded clubs now have their chance on the global stage, and the snobbishness from some corners is reminiscent of how some countries, like England, rejected the World Cup for the first 20 years of its existence because they thought it was beneath them.
Uruguay hosted the first World Cup in 1930, but it was also a bit of a disaster. Two countries (Japan and Thailand, previously Siam) abruptly withdrew from the sixteen-person event. Egypt, another, actually missed the boat that was meant to transport the team to Montevideo.
The referee chose to play one half using one ball and the second half with the other, since both finalists, Uruguay and Argentina, wanted to utilize their own balls. Oh, and the US made it to the semifinals.
Do you think any of this is typical? No? No, we take a look at the World Cup and think about what it has become from a sociocultural (and yes, economic) standpoint in addition to a sporting one.
Will the Club World Cup succeed? Or, like some of FIFA's previous big breakthroughs, will it go away (hello, silver goal)?
We will find out, but in addition to being worth a try, it is also essentially the sport's moral obligation to try.