Black Stars
His Royal Majesty, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II has urged the Ghana Football Association to invite players to the Black Stars on merit in order to ensure that good performance is rewarded.
Many people have raised doubts about the transparency of national team call ups especially with the Black Stars where there is a perception that members of the Black Stars management committee and the GFA EXCO infiltrate call ups with their own players.
Call ups to the national teams are also seen by some as a political tool being used by the GFA hierarchy to sideline players who belong to or have affiliations with opponents.
Ghana Football Association(GFA)President, Kurt Edwin Simeon Okraku on Wednesday, December 2021 led the Executive Council of the Football Association to pay a courtesy call on His Royal Majesty Otumfuo Osei Tutu II - King of the Ashanti Kingdom at the Manhyia Palace in Kumasi.
The visit was to afford the Executive Council the opportunity to take counsel from the occupant of the Golden Stool and to seek his blessings and wisdom for a successful mandate.
It was during the visit that Asantehene urged the GFA to guard against nepotism and handing call ups to players just because they are popular.
“Many of the children really know how to play football and I’m not talking about only Asante Kotoko and Accra Hearts of Oak players because Aduana Stars and the other also have good players,” he said.
“There are those in the hinterlands too who are very good so if we remain truthful and award them with call-ups deservingly, it will also help push their careers.
“Black Stars call-ups should not be about favouritism but we should look for the ones who can really help the team. We should look at the quality and not where they are coming from or the clubs they play for. It should not also be about the popularity of the player because all these go against the team.”
The Black Stars – four-time African champions are aiming to end the 40-year wait for the Africa Cup of Nations trophy having last won the Tournament in Libya in 1982.
The team will open camp in Doha, Qatar on December 22, 2021, for a period of two weeks to prepare for the competition which kicks off on January 9, 2022.
But the Serbian gaffer is expected to downsize his squad from 40 to 23/28 players on 30th December 2021 for the tournament.
Ghana who are paired with Morocco, Gabon and Comoros in Group C will open their campaign with a game against the Atlas Lions of Morocco on January 10 before playing the Panthers of Gabon and the Coelacanths of Comoros on January 14 and 18 respectively.
The African Cup of Nations tournament will start on 9th January- 6th February, 2022 in Cameroon.
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