Marked for Samuel Baba
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces4 Jan 2027
The mood at WAFA 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.
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
Ernest Baba breaks a bone — 16 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 16 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market4 Jan 2027
The phone has started ringing about Afriyie Sulemana again, and this time the name on the line is Asante Kotoko. WAFA are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad4 Jan 2027
A muscle injury sidelines Samuel Baba for 14 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. WAFA will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Match2 Jan 2027
The wait goes on for WAFA
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.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 23. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Tempers go at WAFA
Samuel Baba 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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Afriyie Sulemana 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match26 Dec 2026
WAFA throw away a 3-goal lead
3 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Medeama the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that WAFA will enjoy reviewing.
Match28 Dec 2026
WAFA sink to position 14
13 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.27, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Ernest Baba breaks a bone — 23 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 23 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Samuel Baba, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.63
A mark of 7.63 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Samuel Baba 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 WAFA this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words at WAFA training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kamaldeen Partey 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.
Match26 Dec 2026
WAFA share the spoils with Medeama
A 3‑3 draw with Medeama leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Squad28 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Kamaldeen Waris
“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
Squad23 Nov 2026
Jonathan Adjei damages knee ligaments — 39 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 39 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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Ernest Baba breaks a bone — 60 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 60 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market23 Nov 2026
Patrick Annan 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 WAFA can pretend not to have heard.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Tempers go at WAFA
Samuel Baba 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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Afriyie Sulemana 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
Uneasy
Squad16 Nov 2026
Jonathan Adjei damages knee ligaments — 46 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 46 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.
Market16 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 WAFA, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Ernest Baba breaks a bone — 67 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 67 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Samuel Baba 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 WAFA this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at WAFA training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Afriyie Sulemana 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 ratings16 Nov 2026
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.68 on the card, and the WAFA support went home talking about one name.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad9 Nov 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Jonathan Adjei
54 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. WAFA lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Ernest Baba breaks a bone — 74 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 74 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Marked 6.51 on 18 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad2 Nov 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Jonathan Adjei
61 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. WAFA lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match2 Nov 2026
WAFA are in real trouble now
Position 15, 7 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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Ernest Baba breaks a bone — 81 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 81 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad2 Nov 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Mohammed Bukari and WAFA agree another 4 years.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words at WAFA training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Afriyie Sulemana 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 terraces2 Nov 2026
At 21 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.
Match31 Oct 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Andre Acquah. 1‑0 against Bechem United, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.76 on the card, and the WAFA support went home talking about one name.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad5 Oct 2026
Jonathan Adjei damages knee ligaments — 92 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 92 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Samuel Baba 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 WAFA this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at WAFA training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Afriyie Sulemana 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad28 Sep 2026
Jonathan Adjei damages knee ligaments — 99 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 99 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.
Match26 Sep 2026
WAFA taken apart
1‑5 to Aduana Stars, 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.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Up for the corner, and Samuel Baba delivers — 7.55
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Samuel Baba scored, was marked 7.55, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Tempers go at WAFA
Samuel Baba 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.
Match26 Sep 2026
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between WAFA and Aduana Stars, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Patrick Annan is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad21 Sep 2026
Jonathan Adjei damages knee ligaments — 106 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 106 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
58 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Osman Boateng is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Samuel Baba 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 WAFA this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match19 Sep 2026
BA All Stars made WAFA work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
The terraces21 Sep 2026
At 21 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market24 Aug 2026
The bid was some way short and WAFA did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market24 Aug 2026
Amos Paintsil 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 WAFA can pretend not to have heard.
Squad24 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Afriyie Sulemana, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market17 Aug 2026
The phone has started ringing about Samuel Baba again, and this time the name on the line is Berekum Chelsea. WAFA are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Tempers go at WAFA
Samuel Baba 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Afriyie Sulemana 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.
Squad17 Aug 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.
Market17 Aug 2026
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Francis Bukari has his answer from WAFA; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market10 Aug 2026
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Vancouver Whitecaps moved on, Afriyie Sulemana reports back to WAFA, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Market10 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Kamaldeen Partey and WAFA agree another 4 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Tempers go at WAFA
Samuel Baba 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
The interest is real enough to have reached print. WAFA have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Kamaldeen Partey 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
Steady
Market3 Aug 2026
Add another name to the list: Vancouver Whitecaps have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Afriyie Sulemana. The answer from WAFA has not changed — yet.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Samuel Baba 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 WAFA this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Andrew Wakaso and WAFA agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at WAFA training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kamaldeen Partey 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Amos Paintsil has his answer from WAFA; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Squad3 Aug 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 WAFA, and both men came out saying it was fine.