Coalition of Supporters Unions launches "Operation Top Spot"

Accra, May 20, GNA - Coalition of Supporters' Unions of Africa (COSUA) on Wednesday, launched a campaign tagged "Operation Top Spot". The campaign is primarily aimed at mobilizing support for the senior national team, the Black Stars in the qualifiers of the 2010 Federation of International Football Association (FIFA) World Cup in South Africa.

It is also to ensure that the Black Stars maintain the top spot of Group D of the World Cup qualifiers, ahead of Mali, Sudan and Benin in their group.

COSUA as part of the mobilization exercise will fly 1000 soccer fans to Bamako, Mali to support the Black Stars in their next World Cup game against their West African counterparts on June 7. Nii Nortey Dua, Deputy Minister of Youth and Sports who launched the campaign in Accra, said government is committed to the cause of the Black Stars in their quest to secure another qualification to the World Cup.

He noted that government will therefore support any group that has good intentions of supporting the cause of the Black Stars. The Deputy Minister said the Ministry will not gag any supporter's body, but will provide them with a level playing ground to function. "All supporters' bodies are important and they must be allowed to operate, because the ordinary supporter can decide to stay away from matches but the supporters group will always be there. "That is why we must support the existence of supporters groups to promote the agenda 2010". He stated.

He called on COSUA to extend their support to other sporting disciplines as part of efforts to promote the lesser known sports. Mr Sarfo Abbrebrese, President of COSUA, said his outfit has also declared June 7, as "White Sunday", Day when all Ghanaians are expected to be in white attire as a sign of solidarity for the Black Stars success.

He said the day has been declared a "White Sunday" because Ghana and Mali share the same national colours and there was the need to show the difference between the two sides. Mr Abresese said his outfit has made a special arrangement with Afrijet Airline Company to send supporters to Mali to cheer the team to victory.

He said a special raffle has been initiated by COSUA for 50 lucky supporters who will participate in the raffle to be part of the trip. Mr Abrebrese stated that the 2010 FIFA World Cup is so crucial to the nation and Ghana cannot afford to miss out of the celebration. "We must do all that we can to see to our participation at the World Cup, it is a must.

"And the only way to ensure this is to rally solidly behind the team in both home and away matches". He stated.