Telecommunications giant MTN has reiterated their commitment to the competition with exciting activations while calling for female participation in the quarter-final stages and beyond. Aside from the GH¢1,500,000 support for the competition every year till 2026, MTN has proposed to the FA to consider gender inclusivity in its officiating.
“After celebrating International Women’s Day so beautifully, we propose that the FA considers using an all-female officiating team, to ensure that our ladies are not left out of the excitement,” the Senior Manager, Brands Communications, MTN Ghana, Germain Nartey, said.
He made these comments on Tuesday when the quarter-final draw of the competition was held. That, he said, would go a long way to motivate women to participate in officiating and also attract more females to the competition. In addition, he said they had put in place other activities to attract a larger audience to various centres as the competition gets to its climax.
In the media space, he said they hope to work with media partners on the ‘MTN FA Cup Arena’, where there would be discussions on the game with a call-in segment for callers to answer questions and win some prizes. “There will be street quiz for social media as well as activations that will earn participants prizes and match tickets,” he stated.
With community activations, he said they would ignite community participation by forming partnerships with community park managers and local radio stations to visit weekend community game centres to run activations. “We will provide tents, branded panels, water stand, souvenirs as giveaways, discounted and complimentary tickets. We are hopeful that these activations will bring the communities closer to the FA Cup while at the same time giving us the opportunity to support community football,” he stressed.
Most importantly, he said these community game centres would promote discussions, create networking opportunities and serve as a business arena. “We want to use the games to drive progress in our communities. On match days,there would be Fan Zones at the various stadia. Fans will have the opportunity to engage in activities, such as Target Shooting and Wheel of Fortune, to win prizes,” he said.
He said the 2023/2024 season of the MTN FA Cup promises to be exciting and they are anticipating spectacular skills and brilliant moments.
At the end of the draw, defending champions Dreams FC would face off with lover tier side Soccer Intellectuals while Bofoakwa Tano would battle it out with Skyy FC for a place in the semi-finals of the competition. It would be all Premier League teams affair as last year’s semi-finalist Nsoatreman FC would square off with Karela Utd in a very exciting fixture while Legon Cities and Bechem Utd would fight for a place in the next round.
The games would be played between March 29 and April 1.
The Chairman of the MTN FA Cup Committee, Mr. Wilson Arthur, said the competition level was very high despite the elimination of top clubs, including Accra Hearts of Oak and Kumasi Asante Kotoko. He said they were looking forward to an exciting round and urged families, especially ladies and children, to visit the venues and have a quality time.
