Marked for Jonathan Schlupp
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad31 May 2027
Abeiku Waris 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 Wa All Stars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad31 May 2027
Words at Wa All Stars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Anderson Asiedu 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.
Squad31 May 2027
40 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
The dugout31 May 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Match31 May 2027
Continental football is in reach for Wa All Stars
45 points from position 6. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.
The dugout31 May 2027
Daniel Schlupp knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Daniel Schlupp trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad29 Mar 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 Wa All Stars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Andrew Asamoah is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Anderson Asiedu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Looking ahead29 Mar 2027
A test against the best for Wa All Stars
The team at the top of the table next, and the honest measure of where this side actually is. Anybody can beat the club below them; the question is what happens against Asante Kotoko.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
“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 dugout29 Mar 2027
Felix Boateng knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Wa All Stars, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market29 Mar 2027
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Felix Boateng may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
Loan watch29 Mar 2027
24 starts now, an average of 6.81, and the team sheet at Liberty Professionals has stopped being a question. Exactly what everybody signed up for.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The dugout22 Mar 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Wa All Stars may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Andrew Boateng and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Anderson Asiedu 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.
Match20 Mar 2027
Liberty Professionals left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
The manager makes an example of Ramon Azeez
“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 dugout22 Mar 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Harrison Partey to a room that had heard them before.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Wa All Stars are still strangers to each other
6 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
Player ratings22 Mar 2027
There was no pressure on him and nowhere he had to be. Wa All Stars lost a goal to a decision that took half a second and will be discussed all week.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
Something was said to Timothy Zechariah and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad18 Jan 2027
Jonathan Schlupp damages knee ligaments — 15 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 15 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Match16 Jan 2027
5‑0, and Abeiku Waris took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Wa All Stars tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
A brace, and Andrew Boateng takes the afternoon — 8.92
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Andrew Boateng provided it, and the 8.92 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad18 Jan 2027
The match ball belongs to Abeiku Waris, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Squad18 Jan 2027
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 14 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Match16 Jan 2027
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Wa All Stars have 3 straight wins of it.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Anderson Asiedu and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The terraces18 Jan 2027
He is 23 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.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
A performance of 8.37 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad11 Jan 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Jonathan Schlupp
22 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Wa All Stars lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market11 Jan 2027
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Wa All Stars people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market11 Jan 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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Enoch Nkrumah arrives at the club he grew up with
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Enoch Nkrumah has, at Wa All Stars, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
The paperwork begins on Osman Addo
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Wa All Stars have done the hard part with Liberty Professionals, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Bechem United is saying, and nobody at Wa All Stars is enjoying the guessing.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Daniel Boateng is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad11 Jan 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Albert Mohammed and Wa All Stars agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Match9 Jan 2027
A 1‑0 win over Berekum Chelsea, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad4 Jan 2027
Jonathan Schlupp damages knee ligaments — 29 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 29 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
Two goals and a mark of 8.67 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Market4 Jan 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.
Market4 Jan 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Abdul Rashid Adam arrives at the club he grew up with
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Abdul Rashid Adam has, at Wa All Stars, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Andrew Asamoah is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Words at Wa All Stars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Anderson Asiedu 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.
Match2 Jan 2027
A 2‑0 win over New Edubiase United, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Match4 Jan 2027
Halfway: Wa All Stars sit in position 11
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad28 Dec 2026
Jonathan Schlupp damages knee ligaments — 36 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 36 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Up for the corner, and Daniel Boateng delivers — 6.84
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Daniel Boateng scored, was marked 6.84, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Kwadwo Asamoah is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Anderson Asiedu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Andrew Boateng and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match26 Dec 2026
It needed Daniel Boateng to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Inter Allies, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Harrison Partey chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jeffrey Atiemo, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad21 Dec 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Jonathan Schlupp
43 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Wa All Stars lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.39, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Anderson Asiedu and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match19 Dec 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Abeiku Waris. 3‑1 against Bechem United, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The terraces21 Dec 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Haruna Abubakar 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.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
Ramon Azeez gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 3‑1, already talking about the next one.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Loan watch21 Dec 2026
13 appearances away from home and 4 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad14 Dec 2026
Jonathan Schlupp damages knee ligaments — 51 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 51 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Match14 Dec 2026
11 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Match12 Dec 2026
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Anderson Asiedu 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.
Match12 Dec 2026
Asante Kotoko left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Andrew Boateng 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.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad14 Dec 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Modibo Djenepo and Wa All Stars agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Anderson Asiedu pops up at the right end — 7.66
7.66, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Anderson Asiedu 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.
Match28 Nov 2026
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Harrison Partey chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Wa All Stars, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Shots: 4. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
The dugout30 Nov 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.
Loan watch30 Nov 2026
10 appearances at Hasaacas and the goals keep coming. Wa All Stars are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Chances created: 6. Not on the scoresheet and not remotely anonymous — a passing performance that pulled a defence apart without leaving a mark on the column that gets read.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match14 Oct 2026
Great Olympics go through and Wa All Stars go home, 1‑4 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Match17 Oct 2026
Wa All Stars throw away a 2-goal lead
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with WAFA the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Wa All Stars will enjoy reviewing.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.28 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The terraces19 Oct 2026
1-4. Going out of a cup is one afternoon; going out like that is a week of phone-ins, and the manager will hear every one of them.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Andrew Sulemana scored one and made one — 7.93
Two of the goals had his name somewhere on them, which is the afternoon a manager wants from anybody asked to both create and finish. 7.93, and 3 involvements.
Match17 Oct 2026
4 matches without a win for Wa All Stars
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Wa All Stars are no longer polite ones.
Squad19 Oct 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 Wa All Stars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Andrew Partey is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Match17 Oct 2026
Wa All Stars are shipping goals every week
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market24 Aug 2026
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Ashanti Gold waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Wa All Stars is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market24 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad24 Aug 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 Wa All Stars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Hearts of Oak wanted more than $41.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andrew Boateng was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Wa All Stars asked and Dynamo Kyiv said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Emmanuel Waris, and the manager let it.
Market24 Aug 2026
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Wa All Stars, another week without a signature from Timothy Zechariah.
Squad24 Aug 2026
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market3 Aug 2026
The bid was some way short and Wa All Stars did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market3 Aug 2026
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Wa All Stars have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Abeiku Waris 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Wa All Stars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrew Boateng 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
The formation has left Ramon Azeez behind
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Wa All Stars will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
Rivers United have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
Medeama have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
The dugout3 Aug 2026
Abeiku Waris knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Wa All Stars, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market3 Aug 2026
At 33, he has seen every situation this season can produce, twice. The legs will be managed; the head is the purchase.