CAL Bank To Embrace Beach Soccer Championship League

The Ghana Beach Soccer Association (GBSA) has renewed its partnership with headline sponsor CAL Bank for another season. This follows fruitful discussions between the GBSA and Cal Bank; with the latter also keen to adopt the yet to be named national beach soccer team. According to the GBSA media committee, the new League season will kick off in five weeks and will now be called the Cal Bank Beach Soccer Championship. This means that the second tier will become the Division 1 Beach Soccer League with a sponsor yet to be confirmed.

The adoption of Beach Soccer by CAL Bank in 2011 was welcomed by the sports industry especially at a time where securing sponsorship for major events was a big challenge. The Bank's sponsorship has aided the rapid development and growth of Beach Soccer in Ghana. From just ten clubs in 2010, the GBSA increased its membership to twenty clubs with over 600 registered beach soccer players in 2011. The GBSA successfully held its maiden congress in September last year where key officers were elected into office.

An exciting league season climaxed with an awards and coronation ceremony followed by the first ever FIFA beach soccer workshop in Ghana and West Africa. At the end of the course, FIFA urged the GBSA to form a national team with the assistance of the Ghana Football Association (GFA)

Seen as a corporate and social responsibility by CAL Bank, beach soccer can boast of clubs from several coastal communities. These include the Volta region trio of Havedzi Mighty Warriors, Tegbi Youth and maiden league champions Keta Sunset Sports. Other clubs are Ada Assurance, Teshie United, Senya Sharks, Dansoman BSC, LAYOCA and Osu Dolphins.

By sheer coincidence, CAL Bank's association with beach soccer has seen it rise from a position as the 13th largest bank in Ghana in June 2011 to the seventh position (June 2012) after growing its assets by 64 per cent within the period. CAL Bank is currently ranked the seventh largest bank, in terms of assets, out of the 25 banks operating in the country.