AE Media, organisers of the Ghana Football Awards, has announced that its prestigious awards scheme is returning this year with some exciting new additions.

The new categories, some of which include the Player of the Decade, Women’s Coach of the Year, Best Ghanaian Club CEO, Most Vibrant Club on Social Media among others will add colour to this year’s event.

For the first time, there will also be the Ghana Football Forum that will precede the awards night.

The Covid-19 pandemic halted plans to celebrate Ghanaian football excellence last year. However, with the easing of restrictions in many parts of the world and Ghana, in particular, the Ghana Football Awards is making a major comeback with the 2020/2021 edition.

The board chair of the awards scheme, Mr Karl Tufuoh, has promised a lot of innovation and excitement at this year’s edition.

“We are excited that the Football Awards will be making a return this year. After last year’s failure, due to the pandemic, we needed to bounce back. We are happy that the awards scheme is becoming the toast of both football and non-football stakeholders and promise that there will be more excitement this year with new categories and special awards to be given on the night.”

The Football Awards Board is made of eminent football administrators, ex-footballers, journalists and other stakeholders responsible for pruning down a long list of potential candidates into a shortlist for voting.

This year, three new members have been added to the Board. The first is Dr Kwame Baah-Nuakoh, who is the Chairman of the Ghana Football Association Club Licensing Board. His wealth of experience is a valuable asset to the Board.

The second is Mr Nathan Quao, who is a Sports Journalist and the Head of Research at Citi FM and Citi TV.

Ms Cleopatra N Nketiah, the owner of Ridge City FC and a member of the GFA Women’s League Board, is the third person who also joins the Football Awards this year as a Board Member.

The other old members of the Board include the Communications Director of the Ghana Football Associations, Mr Henry Asante Twum, ex-Ghana internationals, Mr Abdulrahman Abukari Damba, Mr Augustine Arhinful and Mr John Paintsil; retired referee Mr Alex Kotey, and three top sports journalists; Mr Gary Al Smith, Mr Sadick Adams (aka Sports Obama) and Ms Juliet Bawuah of TV3 and sports statistician and journalist, Mr Felix Romark.

The Ghana Football Awards was established in 2018 to project Ghanaian football excellence and recognise Ghanaian footballers and other stakeholders for their achievements at home and around the globe.

This year’s Awards, the third, has more than nine substantive awards categories and three special awards categories for which the Ghana Footballer of the Year remains the flagship award.

The nominee announcement for the 2021 edition is set to come off in May while the main event will come off in June at a yet to be named venue.