Marked for Jonathan Atiemo
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad19 Apr 2027
Christian Ofori damages knee ligaments — 32 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 32 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.
Match19 Apr 2027
Every point is an argument now for BA All Stars
Position 16 and 9 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Jonathan Atiemo: 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.” BA All Stars have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match30 Jan 2027
No end in sight to BA All Stars's wait for a win
23 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at BA All Stars has to find a result from somewhere.
The terraces1 Feb 2027
The mood at BA All Stars has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 37. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
The silence upstairs is getting loud at BA All Stars
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Squad1 Feb 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Kwadwo Addo
27 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. BA All Stars lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Taoufik Safsafi 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.
Match30 Jan 2027
Abeiku Ayew scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Wa All Stars, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Loan watch1 Feb 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 BA All Stars, and 4 appearances in 25 say he has earned the hearing.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match26 Dec 2026
18 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.
Match28 Dec 2026
Every point is an argument now for BA All Stars
Position 16 and 4 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Match26 Dec 2026
Chastening afternoon for BA All Stars
A 0‑4 beating by Hearts of Oak was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Market28 Dec 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.
Squad28 Dec 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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words at BA All Stars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abeiku Ayew 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.
Squad28 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.
Boardroom28 Dec 2026
Nobody left the BA All Stars dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Jeffrey Mensah 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match5 Dec 2026
15 matches without a win for BA All Stars
The run now stands at 15, and the questions being asked around BA All Stars are no longer polite ones.
The terraces7 Dec 2026
The mood at BA All Stars has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 31. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
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 BA All Stars can pretend not to have heard.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Taoufik Safsafi 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Abeiku Ayew 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.
Loan watch7 Dec 2026
“I watch every BA All Stars game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Ashanti Gold runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Squad7 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Patrick Asante, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match28 Nov 2026
No end in sight to BA All Stars's wait for a win
14 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at BA All Stars has to find a result from somewhere.
Match30 Nov 2026
Every point is an argument now for BA All Stars
Position 16 and 2 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Market30 Nov 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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” BA All Stars may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
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 BA All Stars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad30 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jeffrey Mensah, and the manager let it.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at BA All Stars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ernest Bukari 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.
Boardroom30 Nov 2026
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad2 Nov 2026
A one-man rearguard from Ernest Addo
There were 12 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.
Match31 Oct 2026
10 matches without a win for BA All Stars
The run now stands at 10, and the questions being asked around BA All Stars are no longer polite ones.
Match2 Nov 2026
Position 16, 2 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 33. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad2 Nov 2026
A fracture rules Emmanuel Mensah out for 40 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason BA All Stars will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market2 Nov 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.
Match31 Oct 2026
BA All Stars are shipping goals every week
Two or more conceded in each of the last 6 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Squad2 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 BA All Stars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match7 Oct 2026
Asante Kotoko ended it 0‑2. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Squad12 Oct 2026
A fracture rules Emmanuel Mensah out for 61 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason BA All Stars will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match10 Oct 2026
7 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.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
A brace, and Thuto Sesipi takes the afternoon — 7.98
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Thuto Sesipi provided it, and the 7.98 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad12 Oct 2026
A one-man rearguard from Ernest Addo
There were 6 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.
Market12 Oct 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 BA All Stars can pretend not to have heard.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Taoufik Safsafi 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Christian Djiku 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.
Match10 Oct 2026
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between BA All Stars and Aduana Stars, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad5 Oct 2026
A fracture rules Emmanuel Mensah out for 68 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason BA All Stars will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match3 Oct 2026
Beaten 0‑3 by Ashanti Gold, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Match3 Oct 2026
5 matches without a win for BA All Stars
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around BA All Stars are no longer polite ones.
Match3 Oct 2026
5 matches without a goal for BA All Stars
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 5 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad5 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 BA All Stars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Daniel Adjei is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at BA All Stars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abeiku Ayew 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.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
Nobody left the BA All Stars dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad7 Sep 2026
A fracture rules Emmanuel Mensah out for 96 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason BA All Stars will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The terraces7 Sep 2026
BA All Stars sell a favourite for $2.3M
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Christian Afful was one of the reasons people came, and $2.3M does not replace that by itself.
Market7 Sep 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.
Squad7 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Daniel Adjei is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Match5 Sep 2026
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market10 Aug 2026
The offer from Berekum Chelsea for Abeiku Ayew 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.
Market10 Aug 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 BA All Stars can pretend not to have heard.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Abeiku Ayew commits to BA All Stars for another 3 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Taoufik Safsafi 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Abeiku Ayew 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.