BY GRACE ZIGAH
President John Dramani Mahama has raised concerns over the declining standard of domestic football, urging the Ghana Football Association (GFA) and club administrators to take urgent steps to restore the competitiveness and attractiveness of the local game.
The President’s call comes at a time when Ghanaian football continues to grapple with concerns over player development, the early migration of promising talents abroad and the weakening of structures that previously helped produce players for the national teams.
He believes the country must create an environment capable of retaining young talents long enough for them to develop before making the move to foreign leagues.
The president’s current posture betrays his earlier position ahead of the 2024 election when he blamed President Akufo-Addo for running down football, knowing that the GFA has always being in charge of football administration.
President Mahama made the remarks when he received representatives of Medeama SC, Nations FC and Ampem Darkoa Ladies FC on a courtesy call.
The meeting provided an opportunity for the President to engage football stakeholders on the challenges confronting the domestic game and the broader need to rebuild Ghana’s football development system.
According to President Mahama, talented Ghanaian players must be given sufficient opportunities within the domestic league and national teams to gain experience before leaving the country. He argued that the premature departure of promising footballers deprives the local league of quality and makes it more difficult to build strong domestic teams.
“We must find a way to keep our talented players longer, give them opportunities in the national team, allow them to gain international experience, and then let them move abroad after they have matured,” President Mahama said.
Beyond the current league structure, the President also called for the revival of the Colts League, a competition historically regarded as an important pathway for identifying and developing young footballers across Ghana.
The collapse of the traditional Colts system has raised concerns about the availability of structured grassroots football and the ability to consistently identify talents from communities across the country.
