The Accra Sports Stadium will not be demolished as an immediate response to the engineering problems affecting the facility, Acting Director General of Ghana’s National Sports Authority (NSA), Prof Emmanuel Osei Sarpong, says.
The ageing stadium has faced growing scrutiny over its deteriorating condition, with safety concerns leading to calls for the structure to be knocked down and rebuilt.
Prof Osei Sarpong said the NSA was instead assessing the extent of the problems before deciding whether renovation or complete reconstruction would provide the best long-term solution.
He acknowledged that the stadium had significant structural challenges, but said the authorities could not resolve every issue at the same time.
“For me, Accra Sports Stadium is a very good place. We have an engineering problem, and so that is one of the things we are looking at, but we cannot fix everything at a go,” he told Citi Sports.
“We will explore the options to determine whether renovation or building a new stadium would be the best solution.”
He added: “In the interim, we cannot break Accra Sports Stadium down. So we need to look at the gaps one after the other and solve them gradually until we are sure the majority of the gaps are [addressed].”
The Accra Sports Stadium is one of Ghana’s main football venues and hosted the Black Stars’ Africa Cup of Nations qualifying match against Gambia last month.
It had also been expected to host Ghana’s two home 2027 AFCON qualifying fixtures against Somalia next month.
However, Prof Osei Sarpong indicated that both matches were likely to be played at Essipong Stadium in the Western Region instead.
He said the NSA was already seeking clarification from the Confederation of African Football (CAF) over the proposed change of venue.
The authority is continuing to examine the stadium’s engineering deficiencies while addressing the problems gradually, rather than pursuing immediate demolition.
