GFA win legal battle against Westhead Limited over Black Stars sponsorship

The Ghana Football Association (GFA) achieved a significant legal victory on Friday at the High Court in Accra.

Her Ladyship Mrs Olivia Obeng Owusu, presiding over the High Court, General Jurisdiction 4, dismissed the lawsuit brought by Westhead Limited against the GFA regarding the sponsorship of the Black Stars by the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC).

The High Court ruled in favour of the GFA and ordered Westhead Limited to pay Twenty Thousand Ghana Cedis (GHc20,000) in costs.

Representing the GFA was Lawyer Agbesi Kwadzo Dzakpasu, who serves as the Chairman of the Appeals Committee of the GFA and the President of the Greater Accra Branch of the Ghana Bar Association.

This legal dispute dates back to 2014 when three former senior football administrators filed a lawsuit against the GFA, seeking over One Million dollars (US$1,350,000.00) as an agency fee for their alleged role in brokering the Black Stars-GNPC sponsorship deal.

Westhead Limited claimed they were responsible for securing the deal, which involved the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation contributing $3 million annually for three football seasons (from 2012/13 to 2014/15).

However, Mr Ato Ahwoi, the Board Chairman of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) at the time, denied Westhead Limited’s involvement as the broker of the deal. He threatened to cancel the sponsorship agreement if the GFA presented Westhead Limited as the deal’s broker.

The current administration led by Kurt Okraku has actively pursued the case in court since inheriting it, and the judgment delivered on Friday, June 23, 2023, has finally resolved the matter. This legal victory eliminates a substantial potential debt that had loomed over the GFA for the past decade.