David Afful

Right Wingback - WAFA
31 Oct 2027
Sunday
Process

Marked for David Afful

63 Edition

The WAFA Post

11 Oct 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Emmanuel Acquah

32 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.

Squad

A fracture rules Theophilus Collison out for 45 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason WAFA will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Match

Amadu Abdulai sends WAFA through

Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Amadu Abdulai obliged against Liberty Professionals. 2‑1 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is WAFA.

Player ratings

Adebayo Destiny, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 8.72

A mark of 8.72 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.

Squad

Mohamed Boujad keeps WAFA in it on his own

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.

Squad

Abraham Mohammed 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.

The terraces

WAFA supporters have found a favourite in Adebayo Destiny

There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Adebayo Destiny 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.

Match

A bad afternoon for WAFA against Great Olympics

0‑2 to Great Olympics, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

Player ratings

A masterclass from Amadu Abdulai

Marked 8.25 — 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.

In brief

Back issues
57 Edition

The WAFA Post

30 Aug 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Emmanuel Acquah damages knee ligaments — 75 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 75 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.

Squad

Theophilus Collison breaks a bone — 88 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 88 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Boardroom

The silence upstairs is getting loud at WAFA

Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.

Squad

João Trevisol 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.

Squad

Abraham Mohammed 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.

Market

A long bet from WAFA on David Afful

He is 20, and nobody at WAFA signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.

In brief

57 Edition

The Wa All Stars Courier

30 Aug 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Wa All Stars sell their best player to WAFA

$61.0K is a serious amount of money and it does not play centre-forward. Everybody in the dressing room knows who used to be looked at when it went wrong.

Market

Wa All Stars say no — this time

The offer from Polokwane City for Gladson Boakye 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.

The terraces

Wa All Stars sell a favourite for $61.0K

The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. David Afful was one of the reasons people came, and $61.0K does not replace that by itself.

Squad

Real improvement from Rueben Owusu Boadu at Wa All Stars

Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Rueben Owusu Boadu is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.

Squad

Tempers go at Wa All Stars

Emmanuel Asante 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.

Squad

A late step up for Patrick Asamoah

At 24 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 4 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.

In brief

56 Edition

The Wa All Stars Courier

23 Aug 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Ernest Ayew has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Wa All Stars they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Squad

Real improvement from Abraham Atiemo at Wa All Stars

Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Abraham Atiemo is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.

Squad

Emmanuel Asante 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.

Squad

Mohammed Owusu has improved at 29, which nobody expected

Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.

Market

The David Afful conversation is coming

Everyone has stopped pretending: WAFA will make the call about David Afful this week. Wa All Stars have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.

Squad

Patrick Asamoah has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Wa All 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.

In brief

36 Edition

The Wa All Stars Courier

5 Apr 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

Wa All Stars out of the cup

Asante Kotoko ended it 0‑5. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.

Squad

A one-man rearguard from Kwame Paintsil

There were 8 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.

The terraces

The ground has had enough

“We travel everywhere and we get this.” 9 of the 29 senior players heard it walking off, and the ones who did not hear it were not playing.

The terraces

A cup hiding at Asante Kotoko leaves Wa All Stars explaining themselves

0-5, and long before the end the away end had switched from encouragement to something considerably more pointed. Nobody rings a phone-in about losing narrowly.

Squad

Kamaldeen Nuhu says Wa All Stars went back on their word

“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.

Market

Kwame Paintsil has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Wa All Stars they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Squad

Real improvement from Ernest Ayew at Wa All Stars

Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Ernest Ayew is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.

Squad

Carlinhos signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Carlinhos commits to Wa All Stars for another 2 years.

Player ratings

Patrick Asamoah runs at them all day

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.

In brief

25 Edition

The Wa All Stars Courier

18 Jan 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Kamaldeen Nuhu: 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.” Wa All Stars have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Market

Bechem United come back empty-handed

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.

Player ratings

Francis Inusah runs at them all day

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.

Player ratings

Ninety minutes of Emmanuel Asante at his very best

Marked 8.43. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Wa All Stars.

Player ratings

Emmanuel Kudus was on a different afternoon to everybody else

8.36. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.

Market

Bechem United expected to open talks for Ernest Ayew

Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Wa All Stars will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.

Squad

Kwame Paintsil lets one through his hands

A defender's mistake gets tidied up by somebody else; a goalkeeper's ends up in the net. He knew before the ball crossed the line, and so did everybody in the ground.

Squad

The manager has not finished forgetting Mohammed Owusu's mistake

Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.

Squad

Words at Wa All Stars training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ernest 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.

In brief

20 Edition

The Wa All Stars Courier

14 Dec 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Player ratings

Emmanuel Asante runs at them all day

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.

Squad

Tempers go at Wa All Stars

Carlinhos 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.

Squad

No hiding place for Wandinho

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Wandinho, and the manager let it.

Match

A bad afternoon for Wa All Stars against New Edubiase United

0‑1 to New Edubiase United, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

Squad

Words at Wa All Stars training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gladson Boakye 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 ratings

Amos Acquah leaves them behind him

Shots: 10. 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.

In brief

7 Edition

The Wa All Stars Courier

14 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Triumph

Market

Felix Essien 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 Wa All Stars can pretend not to have heard.

Squad

Carlinhos 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.

Squad

David Afful 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.

Match

Emmanuel Kudus sends Wa All Stars past Heart of Lions

It finished 2‑1, and it was Emmanuel Kudus’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Wa All Stars.

Player ratings

Ninety minutes of Francis Inusah at his very best

Marked 8.73. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Wa All Stars.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Emmanuel Asante

Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Squad

Gladson Boakye 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.

Squad

Words at Wa All Stars training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ernest 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.

Market

The market said no: Nana Waris stays put

Wa All Stars opened the door and nobody walked through it. So Nana Waris stays — listed, trained, and available — while both sides mark the days to January on the same calendar.

In brief