Kufuor, Blatter, Hayatou to open CAN 2008 in Accra Sunday

ACCRA, Ghana -- President John Agyekum Kufuor of Ghana and the current chairman of Africa Union (AU) is expected to grace the opening of the 26th edition of the African Cup of Nations (CAN 2008) scheduled in Accra on Sunday evening..

Already, 1,500 cultural dancers have been trained to portray Africa’s rich culture to the estimated one billion visitors into the country.

Also to participate in the continental soccer fiesta is FIFA President Joseph Sepp Blatter, who arrived in Ghana last Thursday.

He has since inspected FIFA funded projects such Ghanaman Soccer Centre of Excellence at Prampram, some 15 kilometers southwest of Accra and the new administrative block of Ghana Football Association (GFA) in Accra.

Blatter is accompanied to Ghana by Jerome Valcke, FIFA general secretary, Pascal Torres, FIFA director of development programmes and Pekka Odriozola, communications director as well as Diallo Souleymane, FIFA assistant director of operations.

Others are, Michel Platini, president of UEFA, Kevin Lamouv, UEFA vice president and David Taylor, UEFA secretary general.

Former German captain, Luther Matheaus and a host of top football gurus around the world are expected in Ghana to watch the 16-nation tournament in what has been termed as "crack" soccer game by African players.

Press accreditation has been a huge problem as most journalists both local and international are stranded. Some of them officially applied for accreditation but the oganisers say the journalists were too many. Already 16, 000 press accreditations have been isssued.

Many soccer fans including Ghana Supporters Union are complaining about shortage of tickets for the Ghana and Guinea game on Sunday.

But the Local Organising Committe (LOC) says they have already issued out the tickets and that one could not blame them for that.

The atmosphere in Ghana is highly charged following the arrival of most participating countries except South Africa which is expected to arrive in Ghana on Sunday.