Former Minister of Youth and Sports, Nii Lante Vanderpuye, expressed concerns about the quality of the pitch at the Accra Sports Stadium. He made these comments after participating in a curtain-raiser match between a Ghana Parliament select team and former Black Stars players during the Democracy Cup, part of the celebrations marking 30 years of democratic rule in Ghana.

Vanderpuye echoed criticism from Deputy Sports Minister Evans Bobie Opoku regarding the state of the pitch. As the Member of Parliament for the Odododiodio Constituency, he pointed out the challenges posed by the poor playing surface.

“The pitch is not as friendly as we would have wished, and it was a struggle to control the ball. But to some extent, it’s okay; we managed. We should thank God that there has not been any serious injury…it was fun, and we all enjoyed ourselves.”

In the main event, Accra Hearts of Oak suffered a 2-1 defeat to their rivals Kumasi Asante Kotoko, marking their third consecutive loss to Kotoko after two defeats in the 2023-2024 Ghana Premier League season.