Six regions, one final
The 2021 Sprite Ball Championship was confirmed in November 2021 as a contest between six regions. The final was set for December at the Aviation Social Centre in Accra, a change of venue from the El-Wak Stadium, where the finals of 2018 and 2019 had been played.
The regions taking part were:
- Greater Accra
- Ashanti
- Central
- Eastern
- Volta
- Western
Greater Accra, the capital region, led the list. The other ten of Ghana's 16 regions had no representatives in either event that year. The country had moved from ten to sixteen regions in 2019, when six new ones were carved out of the old map, and none of the new regions, Ahafo, Bono East, North East, Oti, Savannah and Western North, featured in the 2021 field. All six regions on the list already existed under the old ten-region map.
Regions in place of schools
The biggest change was in who played. For years the Sprite Ball had been a contest between senior high schools, with famous names such as Mfantsipim, St. Augustine's, Presec Osu and Opoku Ware building their reputations in it. The 2021 edition dropped that model.
Qualifiers were held in each of the six regions between teams of high school students who represented their communities, not their schools. According to Graphic Sports, every region ran a contest between four community-based teams. Standout players from those qualifiers were then picked to form the squad that would represent the region at the national final in Accra.
The change meant a gifted player from a school with a weak team could still reach the final, provided he impressed at the regional stage. The basketball contest was open to male high school students.
Music joins the competition
The other change was a music contest, added as part of the sponsor's focus on music. The organizers branded the finale Spriteball Xpressions 21. High school students entered online preliminaries, from which twelve finalists, two from each region, were selected to perform live on the night of the final.
A three-member panel judged the music contest. Graphic Sports named two of the judges: radio presenter Lexis Bill and music producer Richie Mensah. The winning act was promised the chance to work with Mensah's label, Lynx Entertainment, on a theme song for Spriteball.
Prize money was the same for both contests:
| Place | Prize |
|---|---|
| First | GH¢5,000 |
| Second | GH¢3,000 |
| Third | GH¢1,500 |
Every participating team and performer was also due to receive Sprite products and souvenirs.
The date and the organizers
At a press launch in Accra, the final date was fixed for 24 December 2021. Rite Sports, the company that organizes the championship, was represented by its Chief Executive Officer, Yaw Sakyi Afari. Elijah Afutu Nartey, Market Execution Manager, spoke for the headline sponsor, Coca-Cola Bottling Company Ghana Limited.
Christmas Eve is an unusual slot for a school competition, and it placed the final in the holidays, with students out of class.
Two years without a champion
The 2021 edition came after a long gap caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The previous championship had finished in early January 2020, and it ended without a recognized winner. Keta Business College beat defending champions Mfantsipim 48-40 in the boys' final, but the school was later stripped of the title for fielding unqualified players, and no champion was declared.
Shama Senior High School won the girls' title at that 2020 edition, beating St. Louis Senior High School 15-14. Then came the coronavirus, the closure of schools and the suspension of school sport. By the time the Sprite Ball returned in late 2021, the competition had changed its format, its venue and its focus.
Familiar regions, new teams
The six regions on the 2021 list include the home regions of most of the schools that made the championship's name. Central Region schools such as St. Augustine's and Mfantsipim had dominated the boys' division, and in 2016 St. Augustine's beat Mfantsipim in an all-Central final. Ashanti had Opoku Ware, Prempeh College and Kumasi Girls; Western had schools such as St. John's of Sekondi; Eastern had Pope John and Koforidua Senior High Technical School.
In 2021, though, the shirts carried the names of regions. Who wore them depended on the community qualifiers, and the players picked there would be the ones to decide which region took home the first prize in December.