Marked for Benjamin Tsivanyo
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market21 Jun 2027
The offer from ES Ben Aknoun for Daouda Sidibé was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Transfer targets21 Jun 2027
$710.0K settles it between the clubs for Mohamed Camara
Asante Kotoko have accepted the money. What Aduana Stars do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Market21 Jun 2027
Sam Adams hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Aduana Stars can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout21 Jun 2027
William Dankyi: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Aduana Stars have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad21 Jun 2027
At 18, Benjamin Tsivanyo is already the best thing here
An average of 7.00 in a first team he is several years too young for. Aduana Stars have something, and by now the whole division has noticed.
Transfer targets21 Jun 2027
Aduana Stars asked and Medeama said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Daniel Awuni was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad21 Jun 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Aduana Stars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets21 Jun 2027
A loan enquiry to Asante Kotoko: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market7 Jun 2027
Bright Adjei hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Aduana Stars can pretend not to have heard.
Market7 Jun 2027
The bid was some way short and Aduana Stars did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Transfer targets7 Jun 2027
The deal with Hearts of Oak is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Stephen Badu and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Daniel Awuni falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Transfer targets7 Jun 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Kaizer Chiefs have kept their man, and Aduana Stars go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout7 Jun 2027
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
The dugout7 Jun 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Emmanuel Marfo, and the manager let it.
Loan watch7 Jun 2027
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Aduana Stars, and 5 appearances in 19 say he has earned the hearing.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad24 May 2027
At 18, Benjamin Tsivanyo is already the best thing here
An average of 7.00 in a first team he is several years too young for. Aduana Stars have something, and by now the whole division has noticed.
Squad24 May 2027
Stephen Badu in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Aduana Stars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 May 2027
Daouda Sidibé falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout24 May 2027
The manager makes an example of Boa-At Regain
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout24 May 2027
Bright Adjei asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
The dugout24 May 2027
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Emmanuel Abban is on it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
The dugout26 Apr 2027
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Aduana Stars have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad26 Apr 2027
He is 18, he is averaging 7.00, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Daniel Awuni falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Silas Kyeremeh was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Market26 Apr 2027
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Patrick Mensah has his answer from Aduana Stars; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
Emmanuel Abban has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Aduana Stars will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings29 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 33. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Match27 Mar 2027
Daniel Awuni had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Berekum Chelsea were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
Match29 Mar 2027
38 points, and the season has a number on it. Whatever it felt like from the inside, this is what it will look like in a book.
Player ratings29 Mar 2027
Two goals and a mark of 8.41 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Market29 Mar 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad29 Mar 2027
A season average of 7.00 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Aduana Stars know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Match27 Mar 2027
The unbeaten run reaches 7. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Daniel Awuni falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Match27 Mar 2027
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 6 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad22 Mar 2027
Defences have started doubling up on Stephen Amankona
22 goals and a season average of 7.46 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Match20 Mar 2027
Nobody wants to play Aduana Stars right now
6 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Player ratings22 Mar 2027
Marked 7.65 at 18, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Player ratings22 Mar 2027
At 37 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.20, and nobody on the pitch better.
Match20 Mar 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Stephen Amankona. 3‑2 against New Edubiase United, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The terraces22 Mar 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Mezack Afriyie has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Player ratings22 Mar 2027
A performance of 8.72 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
The manager makes an example of Daniel Awuni
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Words at Aduana Stars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daouda Sidibé is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
In brief
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Player ratings
Ninety minutes of Mezack Afriyie at his very best
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Squad
Tempers go at Aduana Stars
-
The dugout
The manager’s verdict
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad8 Mar 2027
A fracture rules Harrison Addo out for 19 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Aduana Stars will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad8 Mar 2027
7 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Daouda Sidibé is in the form of his life
A season average of 7.50 with 19 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
Marked 8.06 at 18, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Match6 Mar 2027
4 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 20. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Daouda Sidibé and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The terraces8 Mar 2027
He is 18 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad15 Feb 2027
There were 10 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Defences have started doubling up on Daouda Sidibé
15 goals and a season average of 7.36 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Squad15 Feb 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Daniel Awuni and Aduana Stars agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Stephen Badu was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Match13 Feb 2027
6 matches without a win, and then this, against Great Olympics. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.
Match13 Feb 2027
It finished 2‑1, and it was Stephen Amankona’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Aduana Stars.
The terraces15 Feb 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Gregory Sekyere has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
Ninety minutes of Daouda Sidibé at his very best
Marked 8.59. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Aduana Stars.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
The manager makes an example of Emmanuel Marfo
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match16 Jan 2027
3‑6 to Medeama, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Market18 Jan 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Asante Kotoko waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Aduana Stars is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
Two goals and a mark of 9.17 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
The offer went to Liberty Professionals this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Squad18 Jan 2027
A season average of 7.24 with 13 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Daniel Awuni falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
A performance of 8.97 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad11 Jan 2027
A fracture rules Massawudu Inusah out for 17 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Aduana Stars will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Market11 Jan 2027
The offer from AS Korofina for Mezack Afriyie was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 25. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Stephen Badu and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Market11 Jan 2027
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Aduana Stars have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Daniel Awuni was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Barau have kept their man, and Aduana Stars go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Match9 Jan 2027
1‑2 to WAFA, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
In brief
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Player ratings
Stephen Amankona was on a different afternoon to everybody else
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
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Transfer targets
A loan move for Chimezie Njoku is in the works
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad14 Dec 2026
45 days out for Massawudu Inusah after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Aduana Stars will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market14 Dec 2026
Only the photograph left for Kofi Asante
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Kofi Asante will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Aduana Stars the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The terraces14 Dec 2026
At 19 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Match12 Dec 2026
5 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Berekum Chelsea were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.38, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Match14 Dec 2026
Halfway: Aduana Stars sit in position 9
18 points at the turn. The first half of a season is a promise; the second is a bill, and the town is about to find out which of the two this one was.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Samuel Kuffour and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Harrison Partey on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad7 Dec 2026
52 days out for Massawudu Inusah after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Aduana Stars will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market7 Dec 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Aduana Stars can pretend not to have heard.
Match5 Dec 2026
5 matches without a win for Aduana Stars
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Aduana Stars are no longer polite ones.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
Kofi Asante: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Aduana Stars have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at Aduana Stars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniel Awuni is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Emmanuel Marfo, and the manager let it.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.00, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad7 Dec 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Ernest Mwankurinah commits to Aduana Stars for another 3 years.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad30 Nov 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 59 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Benjamin Tsivanyo, 18, plays like he has been here for years — 8.17
A mark of 8.17 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 18-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
Boa-At Regain: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Aduana Stars have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Match28 Nov 2026
No end in sight to Aduana Stars's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Aduana Stars has to find a result from somewhere.
Match28 Nov 2026
No clean sheets in sight for Aduana Stars
4 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
Squad30 Nov 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Aduana Stars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces30 Nov 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 18-year-old it feels ownership of. Benjamin Tsivanyo has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Daniel Awuni beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 18. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Daniel Awuni falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad23 Nov 2026
20 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Aduana Stars lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad23 Nov 2026
66 days out for Massawudu Inusah after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Aduana Stars will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Stephen Badu was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Match21 Nov 2026
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Marked 8.08 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Harrison Partey after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Samuel Kuffour falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 13. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad2 Nov 2026
A fracture rules Massawudu Inusah out for 88 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Aduana Stars will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Aduana Stars may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Daniel Awuni, 20, steals the show — 8.32
Marked 8.32 at 20, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Loan watch2 Nov 2026
“I watch every Aduana Stars game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at New Edubiase United runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The terraces2 Nov 2026
He is 19 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Match31 Oct 2026
A 1‑0 win over Great Olympics, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Emmanuel Abban was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad2 Nov 2026
A place in the month's best eleven for Daniel Awuni
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Daniel Awuni has come out of that comparison in the side, and Aduana Stars have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 30. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Stephen Badu was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Abubakar Adams is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Match26 Sep 2026
A 1‑0 win over WAFA, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Ninety minutes of Daouda Sidibé at his very best
Marked 8.28. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Aduana Stars.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Daniel Awuni falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Harrison Partey, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Charles Gyamfi Kamara, and the manager let it.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.