Seychelles Turn To Ghanaian Legend For Honours

Indian Ocean islanders, Seychelles have named Ghanaian legend, Charles Kumi Gyamfi, popularly called 'CK', as technical adviser of their national teams, with less than two months before staging the African Under-17 Nations Cup finals.

Gyamfi was a former Ghanaian international and the winner of three Nations Cup titles as coach for Ghana's national team, the Black Stars in 1963, two years later and in 1982. Until his new appointment, Gyamfi was a former technical director of Ghana and among a team of former coaches that perform the same task for world football body, FIFA and African soccer confederation, CAF.

Seychelles play host its biggest international football ever, the Under-17 Nations Cup finals, from February 18 to March 3. The hosts have been drawn in group A alongside Cameroon, Mali and Burkina Faso. Former champions, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Guinea and Mozambique are in the other group.

The senior national team is handled by Montenegran-born coach, Vojo Gardesevic, who made a big impression as coach of Kenya, after the surprise elimination of Algeria in the qualifiers of the 1998 World Cup.

The arrival of Gyamfi could rekindle the enthusiasm of the football-mad island as the Under-17 tournament will allow an exposure which the country's footballers have never known before. But it would be a tough task for the Ghanaian hero to turn around the record of the Seychelles, where football has little to boast of compared to the country's reputation for pristine beaches, crystal-clear water and warm weather - making it one of the ideal destinations for the Miss World beauty pageant.