Ghana football, once a source of national pride and international respect, has sunk into the depths of mediocrity.
The Black Stars, once celebrated across Africa and the world, have become a shadow of their former selves.
We used to revel in the glory of our football legacy, but now, the cracks are all too visible.
Our football is on life support, and it’s hard to pinpoint a single cause when every aspect of our footballing structure is crumbling.
The national team has been an embodiment of this decline. We went from being a force to reckon with in Africa to barely scraping by in competitions.
AFCON 2021, World Cup 2022, and now the threat of missing AFCON 2025 altogether.
How did we get here? Look no further than the leadership at the Ministry of Youth and Sports, the Ghana Football Association, and all the so-called stakeholders who are complicit in the decline of our sports.
These individuals seem disconnected from the realities on the ground, lacking the foresight and drive needed to fix the crumbling foundation of our football.
It’s alarming that those tasked with overseeing Ghana football remain in their positions despite the glaring failures. We’ve changed coaches like rotating chairs, six coaches in five years.
The current coach, Otto Addo, led us to a disappointing World Cup campaign, yet, inexplicably, he was brought back to lead the same team.
Why bring back a coach who failed with the same players and expect different results? It defies all logic.
And then there’s the Ghana Football Association (GFA), led by President Kurt Okraku, a man who hasn’t even been able to manage his own club effectively, yet has been given the reins to run our national football body.
How do we expect Ghana football to thrive under such inept leadership? The GFA’s focus seems to be on enriching themselves and their personal interests, leaving the national team and local leagues to rot.
Our local leagues, including the once-vibrant Ghana Premier League, Division 1, and Division 2, are dead.
Without strong local clubs, how can we ever hope to build a successful national team?
The chemistry that was once forged through players rising together from the U-17s, U-20s, U-23s, and into the Black Stars is gone. The current crop of players barely know each other before being thrust into international competitions.
The Black Princesses, Black Queens, Black Satellites, Black Meteors , they are all suffering the same fate.
The decay runs deep through every layer of Ghana football. And yet, everyone remains silent.
The Ministry of Youth and Sports should have taken action long ago, but they remain indifferent.
Perhaps, with such a drastic step, we would finally have the time and space to rebuild from the ground up, starting with the basics.
The decay has set in too far to be corrected by half-hearted reforms. Ghana football needs a revolution.
Let’s face it, if nothing changes, we won’t just miss out on AFCON. We’ll continue to embarrass ourselves on the international stage, losing to teams we once dominated.
They’re tired. We’re tired. Ghana itself is tired of Ghana.
It’s time for those responsible for this disaster to step down. It’s time for us to stop pretending that everything is fine.
It time for real change, before there’s nothing left to save.
Contributor: Portia Pinamang
