Marked for Kamaldeen Gyan
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Apr 2027
The knee: Kwadwo Adjei out for 118 days
118 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. BA All Stars lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market12 Apr 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.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Abbey Benson 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.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Words at BA All Stars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Chinedu Chukwu 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 dugout12 Apr 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.
Match10 Apr 2027
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
Player ratings12 Apr 2027
Elvis Addo runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 14. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Kamaldeen Gyan is on it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match11 Jan 2027
The view from the top for BA All Stars
32 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
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.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
At 34 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 7.87, and nobody on the pitch better.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Aduana Stars keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Chinedu Chukwu 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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Lulama Nxumalo gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Lulama Nxumalo has just signed for BA All Stars, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Everybody at BA All Stars saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 34 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Clinton N'jie 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.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match2 Jan 2027
7‑1, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Match30 Dec 2026
Hearts of Oak go through and BA All Stars go home, 0‑2 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Squad4 Jan 2027
The match ball belongs to Andrew Djiku, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
Two goals and a mark of 8.13 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
The offer from Berekum Chelsea for Andrew Djiku 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.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
Marked 8.06 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Market4 Jan 2027
Francis Owusu 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 BA All Stars can pretend not to have heard.
Squad4 Jan 2027
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. BA All Stars will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
Everything agreed with Aduana Stars, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match26 Dec 2026
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 8 matches without defeat is a foundation BA All Stars did not have in the autumn.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Salim Adams 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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words at BA All Stars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Samba Sissoko 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 dugout28 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Jai Semenyo
“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.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 14. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Kwadwo Asamoah after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
The chances came and went for Andrew Djiku
9 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.
Match26 Dec 2026
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Berekum Chelsea will be the happier side with the point.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
Andrew Djiku gets picked when it counts
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Andrew Djiku is on it.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad14 Dec 2026
Chinedu Chukwu 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.
Match12 Dec 2026
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 6 matches without defeat is a foundation BA All Stars did not have in the autumn.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Words at BA All Stars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Salim Adams 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.
Match12 Dec 2026
3 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.88 on the card, and the BA All Stars support went home talking about one name.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Kwadwo Asamoah kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 13. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad14 Dec 2026
The formation has left Ahmed Adams behind
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. BA All Stars will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Marked 7.79 at 20, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Chinedu Chukwu and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match5 Dec 2026
4 matches without defeat, and then Bechem United. Nobody at the ground pretended it would go on forever; nobody expected it to stop here either.
Squad7 Dec 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Emmanuel Essien commits to BA All Stars for another 1 years.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Four weeks in which nobody in the division did his job better. The award goes on a shelf and the player goes back into the side, which is the order BA All Stars prefer.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at BA All Stars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Samba Sissoko 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.
Match5 Dec 2026
A 1‑1 draw with Bechem United leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Kwadwo Asamoah was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the BA All Stars dressing room was either.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad9 Nov 2026
Salim Adams 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Jai Semenyo gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Jai Semenyo has just signed for BA All Stars, and for once the answer mattered.
Match7 Nov 2026
A 1‑0 win over Great Olympics, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.15, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad9 Nov 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Kamaldeen Gyan and BA All Stars agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Market9 Nov 2026
He signed expecting a bigger stage than the one he found. It has not taken long, and it has not taken the dressing room long to notice either.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Nobody could get near Elvis Addo
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market9 Nov 2026
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Loan watch9 Nov 2026
“I did not go to Great Olympics to sit and watch. I want to come back to BA All Stars and fight for my place.” 5 appearances in 13 matches say the rest.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad26 Oct 2026
Salim Adams 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.
Match24 Oct 2026
1‑3 to Aduana Stars, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Kwadwo Asamoah after 1‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
Elvis Addo 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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Samba Sissoko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
Chinedu Chukwu 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.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
Elvis Addo has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at BA 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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
At 24 he is in the side on merit and somebody else is watching from the bench. Places at BA All Stars are won quietly and lost loudly.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 7. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match14 Oct 2026
A 3‑0 win over Asante Kotoko, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
A brace, and Andrew Djiku takes the afternoon — 8.76
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Andrew Djiku provided it, and the 8.76 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“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.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Kwadwo Adjei, 33, rolls back the years — 7.97
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.97 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Chinedu Chukwu 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.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match17 Oct 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Andrew Djiku. 2‑1 against Ashanti Gold, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The terraces19 Oct 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Elvis Addo 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.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Ninety minutes of Edmund Sulemana at his very best
Marked 8.38. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at BA All Stars.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad14 Sep 2026
Salim Adams 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.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
The game went through Salim Adams — 6.71
Marked 6.71 on 12 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
The dugout14 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.
Market14 Sep 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.
Loan watch14 Sep 2026
“I watch every BA All Stars game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Great Olympics runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Too much change too quickly at BA All Stars
5 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Shots: 12. 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.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 14. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Kwadwo Asamoah after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.