Glorious Accra Hearts of Oak chalked another milestone on Wednesday with the unveiling of the new Director of Football and First Team Coach, Kim Grant who was outdoored at a press conference at the Sun City Hotel Apartment at La.
The former Black Stars player with a lot of experience in England with West Bromwich and coaching clubs like Cape Coast Ebusua Dwarfs and Elmina Sharks was introduced by CEO of the Mark Nooman.
In his formal remarks, Nooman disclosed that Hearts are building a programme for successful excellence by engaging the best person for the job.
“Hearts will win with class, lose with dignity and never say die. Hearts is no ordinary club, we took our time to select the best man as our Head Coach he expressed.
Kim Grant said he is ready and prepared for the challenge looking forward to the successful future.
“I know about the rich history of Accra Hearts of Oak and will do my best to make it better. A lot of changes are coming as we path a new direction. There is so much negativity which must be turned to be positive. We hope to be successful on and off the pitch. Our philosophy and mental approach to games must be positive” he told the media and few supporters who were present.

In September, ticket packages for the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2019™ went on sale, and since then an impressive 45,000 packages have been sold (150,000 tickets). 
FIFA Women’s World Cup™ fever is spreading around the world in the build-up to the tournament, which will set the stage for the world’s best players to compete in world-class venues across France. The biggest buyers of ticketing packages so far come from France and the USA (86%).
The tournament will take place across nine Host Cities in France: Grenoble, Le Havre, Lyon, Montpellier, Nice, Paris, Reims, Rennes and Valenciennes, and each has reported brisk ticket sales. 
Lyon, which will host the semi-finals (2-3 July) and the final (7 July), has already sold all of its packages for three matches, more than 22,000 (69,000 tickets). Single tickets will be available after the draw during the Visa pre-sale phase.
In addition to Lyon, the Host Cities of Paris, Rennes and Valenciennes have also seen impressive sales, with 10,000 tickets sold in Rennes, 18,000 in Paris and 22,000 in Valenciennes.

Kwesé satellite television has closed down in Zimbabwe after a review by parent company, Econet Media, of its business strategy and service offerings to align it to changes in the global digital and satellite broadcasting sector, and growth in access to mobile and fixed broadband on the continent. The strategy review will put forward the multi-platform broadcast network to focus on three fundamental services; Kwesé Free Sports (KFS), Kwesé iflix and Kwesé Play.
The company stated: “With increased focus on these three services, Econet Media will streamline its direct-to-home satellite television service. This will see the reduction of third-party channels available on the bouquet, as well as the removal of Kwesé branded sports (excluding KFS) and general entertainment channels. The broadcaster’s new bouquet will carry FTA, religious and free news channels which will be available to viewers for a minimal fee, as the broadcaster will waive monthly subscription fees.”

Cricket Australia has announced the renewal of the partnership between global kids’ entertainment brand, Nickelodeon and the KFC Big Bash League (BBL) for a third consecutive season.
The renewed deal follows the success of two seasons in partnership, as Nickelodeon continues to work closely with Cricket Australia to strengthen the BBL’s position as a one of the top family-friendly entertainment options of the Australian summer.
The exciting 2018-19 partnership will include the roll-out of new at-match activations and gameplay featuring the Australian debut of costume characters for Nickelodeon’s newly released Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, a third season of the Logie Award-nominated TV series, Crash The Bash, and huge prize giveaways for fans throughout the BBL season.
Nickelodeon will activate at eight BBL matches throughout the season beginning Thursday 3 January in Geelong when the Melbourne Renegades take on the Adelaide Strikers at GMHBA Stadium, all the way through to the BBL Final on Sunday 17 February.

Global digital football brand COPA90 has hired Facebook’s head of football Robert Rodriguez as its new chief growth officer.
Rodriguez’s core role will focus on content, audience, data and innovation as COPA90 looks to expand its reach and distribution globally.
The fast-growing COPA90 brand was founded by Bigballs Media in 2012 and now boasts over 650 million views per month and 35 minutes per fan per week average watch time.
In his new role based in COPA90’s Los Angeles office, Rodriguez will work across the business, creating the next generation content formats and programming, with a deep focus on the fan insight.
He is expected to explore key platform relationships and partnerships, both content and commercial, across the likes of Facebook, Instagram, Netflix, Snap and Twitter.

Cricket South Africa (CSA), together with Momentum and the Central Gauteng Lions, have announced that the 8th Momentum One-Day International (ODI) PinkDay will take place during the fourth ODI between the Standard Bank Proteas and Pakistan on Sunday 27 January 2019, at the Bidvest Wanderers Stadium.
This legendary event, which has become something of an institution in South Africa, is celebrated for reasons far beyond its quirky and fun-filled invitations for cricketers and fans alike to #PitchUpinPink. In 2018 alone, the event raised over R 1.7-million for the critically important work and research being done by The Breast Care Unit at the Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital.
According to Carel Bosman, Head of Sponsorships at Momentum, the 2019 event is set to see the biggest and most successful PinkDay ever. “We have our sights set on raising R 5-million this time around, if we can get all South Africans involved. The money raised goes to an incredibly heartfelt cause that touches most of us at some point in our lives. Together with our ‘Partners in Pink’, we appeal to the public to get behind this worthy cause and ‘Pitch up in Pink’. We believe that collectively we can make a difference in the fight against Breast Cancer.”

In first campaign with Crew SC, U.S. MNT striker nets career-high 19 goals

NEW YORK – Major League Soccer announced today that after his breakout regular season, Columbus Crew SC forward Gyasi Zardes has been named the 2018 MLS Comeback Player of the Year.
 
The 27-year-old Hawthorne, Calif. native was traded to Crew SC in the offseason before posting his strongest campaign yet, including a career-high 19 goals. He capped off the regular season with his first career hat trick on MLS Decision Day presented by AT&T to carry momentum into the Audi MLS Cup Playoffs.

Center back becomes first player among New York-based MLS teams to win honor

NEW YORK – Major League Soccer announced today that the New York Red Bulls’ Aaron Long has been named the 2018 MLS Defender of the Year. The 26-year-old center back becomes the first player among New York-based MLS teams to win this award.
 
Long enjoyed a breakout year during the Red Bulls’ run to a third Supporters’ Shield and an MLS single-season points record (71). He played in all 34 regular season games while posting three goals and two assists in 2,806 minutes – all career highs. He led a defensive line that was the best in MLS, allowing only 33 goals in 34 games to represent the lone MLS club to concede less than one goal per game. Long additionally played in his first MLS All-Star Game presented by Target, earning the start during MLS’s highly touted match against Italian powerhouse Juventus.

The Executive Committee of the IWGA held a meeting in Birmingham, Alabama last week. On the agenda were issues concerning future strategies for The World Games, but also matters such as partnership agreements and plans for celebrating the 40th anniversary of the IWGA’s foundation. “The meeting went very well,” says IWGA CEO Joachim Gossow. “We had many constructive discussions, mainly about strategic, future-oriented issues.” The Executive Committee will hold its next meeting in early February 2019. 
Before the Executive Committee meeting, the Coordination Committee for The World Games 2021 had met. The IWGA delegation was led by Vice President Max Bishop, with Honorary President Ron Froehlich, CEO Joachim Gossow, Treasurer Lukas Hinder and Chantal Boehi, General Manager also attending. The delegation of the Birmingham Organising Committee was headed by its Chairman, Jonathan Porter, who was supported by CEO DJ Mackovets with his staff members and service partners.

The Momentum Friendship Games moves to Bloemfontein for its third stop of the season when Standard Bank Rocklands Regional Performance Centre (RPC) will pit their skills against Grey Bloem on Wednesday.
The Friendship Games represents an important undertaking by partners Cricket South Africa (CSA) and sponsors Momentum with this clash in the Free State coming after two exciting matches in the series already, which both produced different results.
The opening match of the season took place at the Paul Roos Gymnasium Cricket Oval in Stellenbosch and was won by the hosts, Paul Roos, against the Paarl RPC. The second game, meanwhile, went all the way to the final ball as the Alice RPC in the Eastern Cape secured a memorable tie against Selborne College in East London.
Now Rocklands RPC will be hoping to secure a win for the RPCs at one of South Africa’s greatest educational institutes.
 “It has been a thrilling start to the Momentum Friendship Games so far with plenty of excitement from both the hosting schools and the RPCs involved,” Clive Eksteen, Head of Commercial at CSA, said. “This is not just about a game of cricket, but the coming together of people from various backgrounds.

Part of the Durban Heat's build up to the inaugural Mzansi Super League is focused around a number of exciting school interactions throughout the greater Durban area ahead of their tournament opener on 18 November at Kingsmead.
The activations will take place throughout the remainder of November at various schools that are affiliated with the KwaZulu-Natal Cricket Union.
The team line-up for the tournament will be star studded with explosive Proteas batsman David Miller as well as other marquee players such as Rashid Khan and Hashim Amla as well as local stars and Proteas Khaya Zondo and Keshav Maharaj.
KZNCU Marketing Manager, Nana Ngubane said that the plan is to ensure that the community of Durban and surrounding areas is aware of this exciting tournament and are geared up to come and show support for the team.

The Mzansi Super League trophy was officially unveiled on Tuesday with pictures as well as exclusive 360 degree videos available on Mzansi Super League Twitter, Facebook and Instagram social media platforms.
The gold-plated cup has a uniquely designed flower-pattern that signifies the spring of a new dawn with the first edition of the much-anticipated tournament set to start in 10 days’ time.
“We wanted a trophy that would have a unique touch and feel, signifying our unique South African-ness,” said excited Cricket South Africa Chief Executive, Thabang Moroe.
“Bearing in mind that the protea flower is a national iconic symbol that is also the brand associated with our national cricket team – we wanted a design that was close to that with petal-like design that South Africans identify with, signifying our culture, growth and the blossoming of a new era.”

Tapping into the value of the South African sports fan market, Nielsen Sports has announced the launch of its latest offering, FanLinks, which combines the purchase behaviours of South African households with their interest across sports and entertainment, offering a new way of identifying the brands sports fans are buying.
Since sport is such a personal choice; brand sponsorship offers the ability to touch fans at the peak of their interest. With a burgeoning trust factor of 75% within the advertising industry, brand sponsorship outpaces that of online video ads (42%) and text ads on mobile (36%) according to Nielsen’s Trust In Advertising survey.
Fanlinks offers the ability to quantify sports fan purchase behaviour by brand and deliver specific retail strategies in line with the best opportunity in sponsorship and rights holder partnerships, to reach the most appropriate sports consumer. Consequently, brands can measure for success and align their products within potential partnerships that provide return on investment into the future.

23-year-old Steffen enjoys career year as MLS All-Star and rising U.S. MNT prospect

NEW YORK – Major League Soccer announced today that Columbus Crew SC goalkeeper Zack Steffen has been voted the 2018 Allstate MLS Goalkeeper of the Year.
 
The 23-year-old Steffen completed his second straight regular season as Crew SC’s starting goalkeeper. He earned a career-high 10 shutouts while leading Columbus to a berth in the Audi 2018 MLS Cup Playoffs. Steffen played a heavy portion of Crew SC’s club-record 512-minute shutout streak this season. Individually, Steffen posted a career-high 525 consecutive minutes without conceding a goal – the eighth-longest streak in league history – and earned MLS Player of the Month honors for May.

Ghana Premier League club Accra Hearts of Oak have unveiled a new badge in order to make the design more digital media-friendly.
The new badge is an evolution of the existing mark paying careful attention to honor the sacred elements of the club’s history including the Oak tree, rainbow colors and the founding year of 1911.
It was designed by UK-based global leader in sports brand consulting and design teamup whose clients include adidas, Arsenal FC, Celtic FC, FIFA, MLS, Tottenham Hotspur, Under Armour and the USL.
The secondary badge adds the Latin phrase, ''virtutem praestate'' for select corporate uses.

-The new NATIVO QUESTRA takes inspiration from the QUESTRA 1994 World Cup Ball;
the first and only time the event was held on U.S. soil
-New internal construction provides optimal force distribution during shots on goal
-New skin design features eye-catching prism graphic effects and galaxy designs
-Future MLS stars to be first to use new NATIVO QUESTRA at MLS adidas Player Combine

NEW YORK (November 6, 2018) – Major League Soccer and adidas today revealed the newest Official Match Ball for the 2019 MLS season, the adidas NATIVO QUESTRA. Newly constructed with improved internal materials and tested by the world’s top players, this reimagined release of the NATIVO match ball pulls inspiration from the 1994 FIFA World Cup ball to commemorate the only time the global tournament was held in the U.S. before the 2026 tournament returns to American and Canadian soil.

Hon. Mohammed Adjei Sowah, Mayor of Accra has disclosed that Ghana will change through sports because many talents abound and the youth are looking for opportunities to excel.
Speaking to the media and members of the True Hustlers Tug of War team at this office when the winners of the first community Tug of War champions called on him, he commended the organisers, Dreamland Sports Plus for their vision, mission and organisational skills and being able to control the large crowd that attended the event dubbed ‘Who Rules Chorkor’ on Sunday November 4.
The Mayor expressed joy any time he sees the youth of Ghana engaged in physical activity and promised building basketball courts in some communities in the capital.
He said already he is involved in swimming as the chairman of the Greater Accra Regional Association and he is planning of staging a national swimming competition.
Hon. Adjei Sowah assured that his outfit will support the lesser known sports and help the youth to get employed through sports.

A new season for Ghana's first Skeleton Olympian, Akwasi Frimpong, means a new racing suit, a new helmet and a new perspective.
But don't think Akwasi has forgotten, for one moment, where he came from, or what he's chasing.
Akwasi's racing suit for the 2018 Olympic Games featured a rabbit escaping the jaws of a predator in the form of a lion.  The symbolism recognized his dedication and determination to the sport, along with his optimism and unstoppable positive energy.
The phenomenon of the Black Panther became a theme for Matt Millette, as he designed Akwasi's new racing suit, as he incorporated Akwasi's phenomenal story of becoming just Ghana's second winter Olympian.
"After researching Ghanaian culture, motifs and tribal markings we discovered elements that we could modify and utilize to embed meaning, therefore power, into the new suit design," Millette said.  "Let's start with the base layer of the suit, the underlying armor that all other pieces are built upon."
Millette used patterns similar to those found on homes in Ghana as a symbol to show that comes from a strong foundation.
The design does not mean Millette, or Akwasi are moving on from the survival mentality of being the prey among predators.  In fact, the new suit indicates the rabbit is no longer running away.

OPRO has today announced the renewal of their long-term partnership with New Zealand Rugby (NZR), the national governing body for rugby in New Zealand from grassroots to elite level.
OPRO, like NZR, have continued to push boundaries and for more than 20 years have been a world leading manufacturer of mouthguards. As part of their partnership, OPRO will continue to supply New Zealand’s elite players with the very best in mouthguard protection.
Players from NZR’s  elite performance programme, including the All Blacks, Black Ferns, All Blacks Sevens and Black Ferns Sevens teams, Maori All Blacks and Under 20s, will have access to the best-fitting, most comfortable mouthguards in the world.
Furthermore, OPRO have been granted the rights to produce officially licensed NZR branded mouthguards from their Self-Fit range for sale to the general public.

EA Sports has announced 13 partnerships with professional esports organisations that will see the teams’ official jerseys available as playable kits in EA’s FIFA 19 game.
Among the major international teams to sign on for 2019 are Team Vitality, Newbee, SK Gaming and Scarz. Rogue, the team of 2018 FIFA eWorld Cup Mosaad Aldossary, is another involved.
In addition, Team Liquid, Fnatic and Hashtag United, which were all involved in last year’s FIFA 18, will also return for next year.
As part of the global agreements, pro players from the esports teams will receive a free pack containing in-game kit for them to use.
The move follows criticism of the FIFA title from within the endemic esports community, which has not always recognised the place of sport-based titles in competitive gaming.

Happy Ntshingila previous Chief Executive Officer at SuperSport has been appointed Chairman of creative marketing agency, Openfield effective from 1 November 2018.
Seseki Itsweng, Managing Director at Openfield said: “Happy’s appointment adds a powerhouse of creativity and marketing knowledge to our growing agency and we are delighted to welcome him as our Chairman.” He brings credibility and a deep understanding into our specific area of expertise, as well as the broader marketing industry.”
The industry heavyweight has received notable accolades and recognition for his incredible work at SuperSport International, Barclays Africa, Brand SA and HerdBuoys Advertising amongst many others.

This is part of Botswana Rugby Union (BRU)’s initiative to enhance grassroots development and empower its coaches at grassroots level

GABORONE, Botswana, November 6, 2018/ -- The Botswana Rugby Union (BRU) (www.BotswanaRugbyUnion.co.bw) conducted a mass Get into Rugby (GIR)/Re Ba Bona Ha (RBBH) coaching clinic and mini rugby festival in its Jwaneng centre on Saturday 3rd November 2018 hundred and sixty five kilometres West of Gaborone.

The Festival attracted a massive sixty four (64) boys and twenty three (23) girls on Saturday with ages ranging from eight (8) to the oldest being fourteen (14) giving a total of eighty seven (87) players in total. Prior to the festival, the Botswana Rugby Union technical team and the Jwaneng center coaches put the kids through the paces and conducted coaching sessions on Thursday and Friday.

Get Into Rugby Zambia Project Manager Tom Chaloba reviewed that the game was growing in leaps and bounds across the Country
LUSAKA, Zambia, November 6, 2018/ -- As Zambia Rugby commences preparations for the 2022 Youth Olympic Games set to be hosted in Senegal, the girls have stepped up initiatives not to be left behind.

Get Into Rugby Zambia Project Manager Tom Chaloba reviewed that the game was growing in leaps and bounds across the Country. "We have seen significant progress being made by all our District and Provincial Coordinators in as far as the women's game is concerned"

The Women's Tennis Association (WTA) announced today the 2018 Year-End Rankings, highlighted by World No.1 Simona Halep and doubles co-No.1s Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova. 

The 2018 WTA season witnessed the best of women's tennis compete at 54 events and four Grand Slams in 30 countries for a record USD$146 million in prize money.

Halep tops the 2018 WTA Year-End Rankings for the second consecutive year following her best season yet, capturing her maiden Grand Slam at Roland Garros and lifting two additional trophies at the Shenzhen Open and the Rogers Cup presented by National Bank (Montreal). The Romanian has amassed a total of 53 weeks as the WTA World No.1, which is the fourth-most weeks among active players, and 10th for the most weeks at No.1 on the all-time list.

Baird becomes third academy product ever to win the award 
NEW YORK (Monday, Nov. 5, 2018) – Major League Soccer announced today that Real Salt Lake forward Corey Baird has been named the 2018 AT&T MLS Rookie of the Year.
 
Signed as a Homegrown Player during the offseason, Baird flourished in his first professional season, registering eight goals to lead all rookies while also tallying five assists. Baird established himself as an impact player for RSL as the club compiled a 6-2-2 record in regular season matches where he recorded either a goal or an assist.  The 22-year-old’s contributions were crucial to RSL securing a spot in the postseason, as the club finished the season ranked sixth in the Western Conference (49 points, 14-13-7 overall record).