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With barely 20 days to the highly anticipated ‘kick-off’ at the 2022 FIFA World Cup fiesta in Qatar, Achimota Retail Centre (ARC) has announced it is assembling a unique soccer viewing package at the Mall to bring live, authentic experiences at the games home to Ghanaian soccer fans who cannot travel to Qatar.

For the entire 29 days duration of the tournament, a special ARC-Happy FM World Cup collaborative activation will convey every spot of on-pitch and off-pitch action and the emotional nuances of the games to customers and patrons at the centre, the ARC management told stunned sports journalists in Accra today.  

Marketing Manager, Kobby Ampong announced at a press briefing that ARC’s countdown to kick-off would begin on Saturday, October 29 and disclosed that the Mall has already assembled some of the country’s best football commentators, experts, soccer aficionados, celebrities and guest panellists whose commentaries, analysis and reviews will be broadcast live on Happy FM from the soccer viewing station at the mall.

The 22nd edition of the FIFA World Cup Tournament, the world’s biggest sporting festival, opens on November 20 in Qatar and will run for 29 days. Five Qatari cities will host 32 competing nations, including Ghana and four other African countries. The 2022 FIFA World Cup showdown in Qatar will be the first time the tournament is held in the Arab World.    

Ghana’s Black Stars have qualified for four FIFA World Cup Tournaments: 2006, 2010, 2014 and 2022. In 2006, Ghana was the only African side to advance to the second round of the tournament and was the sixth nation in a row from Africa to progress beyond the group stages of the World Cup.

“Besides the usual excitement and passion that the World Cup always invokes in Ghana, it is clear that once again, Ghanaians have mustered high hopes of an exceptional performance by our Black Stars in Qatar and we are particularly determined to capture and convey every moment of this campaign in its purest form, for the pleasure of our patrons,” Ampong said.   

The Marketing Manager said, in the course of the mall’s countdown to the start of the tournament, a special outdooring event will be held to introduce the programme’s ace commentators and guest panellists to the public ahead of the start of the tournament.

“In order to heighten the fun and excitement around the competition for our shoppers and patrons, we shall launch a World Cup Sports Quiz and a ‘Predict and Win’ game on air just days before the kick-off,” Ampong disclosed.

“The ARC-Happy FM World Cup Soccer station will be so real and so lively that the experience would be no different from being physically present at the games; that explains why we urge all soccer lovers who cannot make it to Qatar, to simply visit Achimota Retail Centre here in Accra.

Achimota Retail Centre is located at Dome, near the St John’s Grammar School on the Accra-Nsawam Highway. Easily the most popular open mall in Accra, ARC houses a wide range of Ghanaian and international brands with offerings in different retail categories including, fashion and clothing, electronics, grocery and a range of alluring delicatessen and eateries.

Aside from the World Cup Countdown, perhaps another development that tails off the month of October with more excitement is the arrival at Achimota Retail Centre last week of two new highly sought-after brands – LC Waikiki, the internationally acclaimed fashion brand with a presence in over 56 countries worldwide and Rocco Mama Restaurant, an accomplished front liner in fast-casual smash burgers, ribs and wings.      

Over the past six years, the Centre, also known by customers as Achimota Mall, has brought modern, convenient, one-stop shopping to the underserviced south-eastern sector of Accra, including communities like Dome, Tantra Hill, Ofankor, Ashongman Estates, Kwabenya, West Legon and the Achimota township.