Marked for Thomas Baba
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 27 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Defensive actions: 26, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Andrew Paintsil 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
Amos Ayew runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match12 Dec 2026
A 1‑0 win over Heart of Lions, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Marked 8.20 — 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 23. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 23 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Amos Atiemo 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 BA All Stars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Marked 8.62 — 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.
Match26 Sep 2026
It finished 1‑0, and it was Osman Atiemo’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to BA All Stars.
Squad28 Sep 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
“Nobody outside is coming to save us.” It was short, it was not comfortable, and by all accounts the BA All Stars squad were quieter afterwards than they had been all season.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Thomas Baba 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 BA All Stars, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market28 Sep 2026
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. BA All Stars know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 23. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market14 Sep 2026
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Hasaacas moved on, Jeffrey Wakaso reports back to BA All Stars, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Squad14 Sep 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 BA All Stars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Nana Ayew 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.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
A performance of 8.17 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Match12 Sep 2026
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market31 Aug 2026
“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.
Squad31 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 BA All Stars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market31 Aug 2026
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. BA All Stars will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market24 Aug 2026
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at BA All Stars, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Andrew Paintsil 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Amos Atiemo
“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
Steady
Market17 Aug 2026
The bid was some way short and BA All Stars did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Kwame Baba 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Baba Adjei 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 BA All Stars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market17 Aug 2026
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Squad17 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Baba Gyan commits to BA All Stars for another 3 years.
Squad17 Aug 2026
A season on the outside for Moaz Ateya
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at BA All Stars has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad3 Aug 2026
Amos Atiemo 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
Add another name to the list: Ashanti Gold have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Kwadwo Ayew. The answer from BA All Stars has not changed — yet.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Nana Wakaso commits to BA All Stars for another 2 years.