Happy98.9FM’s sports journalist, Ayishatu Zakaria Ali has been selected as the only Ghanaian for this year’s International Sports Press Association (AIPS) Young Reporters Program in Switzerland.
The prestigious program will see young reporters receiving timeless and priceless lessons from world renowned mentors such as Riccardo Romani, Martin Mazur, Keir Radnedge and Andrea Giannini.
As part of the training, the selected young reporters will embark on familiarization trips to some Sports Federations and Institutions in and around Lausanne; Switzerland.
Ayishatu Zakaria Ali, known in the sports industry for her advocacy and leadership in women’s football has consistently dedicated her time, energy and resources to the promotion of women’s sports, especially women’s football in Ghana.
She has hosted the big guns in the sports industry such as madam Fatma Samoura; FIFA Secretary General; Laura Georges, Her Excellency Dorcas Makgato; Secretary General of the French Football Federation and High Commissioner of the Republic of Botswana to the Commonwealth of Australia, Moonira Ramathula; Chairperson of Futballing Girls NPO, Gauteng Women’s Rugby Institute and 1st Vice-President of the Gauteng Sports Confederation, Jean Sseninde; Director of South Sudan Women Football and South Sudan Football Association, Achta Mahamat; former Director of Legal Affairs and Compliance at the Confederation of African Football (CAF) among others on radio television and digital platforms.
Her love for the development and growth of sports has seen her champion a lot of causes for women football with the most recent projects being the ground breaking reportage on Hasaacas Ladies’ FC financial crisis ahead of their CAF Women’s Champions League, WAFU Zone B Qualifiers in Cote D’Ivoire, the neglect of the Senior Women’s National Team; the Black Queens ahead of the Tokyo 2020 qualifiers and the demonstration by the Black Queens for the payment of bonuses owed them by the state.
All these campaigns yielded positive results.
In 2020, she was appointed as the Player Relations Officer (women category) by the Professional Footballers Association of Ghana (PFAG) headed by football legend Tony Baffoe and in 2019, she was appointed as Black Queens team media officer for the WAFU Zone B tournament in Ivory Coast.
A fellow of Women In Football UK, Ayishatu continues to promote women’s football through journalism. She covers the Ghana premier league, the women’s premier league and serves as a panelist on many sports talks shows in Ghana and across the globe. She covered the maiden edition of the CAF Women’s Champions League WAFU Zone B qualifiers in Ivory Coast this year and has moderated several sporting events and conferences such as dialogues on Covid-19 and sports, development of women’s football, the art of sports journalism amongst others.
The young and promising sports journalist is also a member of the Sports Writers Association of Ghana (SWAG) and was part of the 100 Young Reporters from over 55 countries across the globe who participated in the maiden edition of the AIPS e-College which she passed with distinction in 2020.
She is a former Communications Director of Immigration Ladies FC.
Founded in 1924 in Paris, AIPS is the only recognized international body representing the sport media, with 161 national association members and over 9,500 active members worldwide and is based in the Olympic capital Lausanne, Switzerland.
About AIPS Young Reporters Program
The Young Reporters Programme, is a cornerstone initiative for AIPS which offers the new generation a unique chance of first-hand experience in covering top international events, direct learning opportunities from experienced sports journalists and from their peers from all over the world.
Participants are expected to gain invaluable experience across all fields of sports journalism and build a solid international network of colleagues from around the world. To date, AIPS has organized 28 Young Reporters Programmes, with over 200 Young Reporters from more than 80 nations across 5 continents.
