President of the Ghana Football Association, Kurt Okraku believes getting a high-profile match international friendly for the Black Stars will be following the introduction of the UEFA Nations League.
According to Mr. Okraku, the introduction of the UEFA Nations League makes inviting a top leveled European country for a friendly game very problematic.
Notwithstanding, Kurt Okraku is of the believe that Ghana will have the opportunity to play any country once they secuare qualification for the AFCON and the FIFA World Cup and make proper impact.
“I will say yes and no. There have been few considerations but there is a new UEFA Nations League that has been introduced by UEFA that ensures that African countries have no free days anymore to engage any European country”, Kurt Okraku told 3Sports.
“However, if we are able to make it to the mundial, then will have the opportunity to play against everybody depending on the needs and wants”
“International matches will come up, big game may come up, me may still have the opportunity to play against South American and the Asian countries but it will be very tight given the new rules by FIFA, so it’s clear none of the African countries is able to play against the European nations and even the more established South Americans”, he added.
Kurt Okraku however added that, “We need to build on our ratings, it’s very important. We need to make the national team very attractive that will push there bigger nations to force to play friendlies against us. We have started a process of rebuilding the national team. The recent call-ups is interesting, the new players invited by the head coach is encouraging, so once we qualify for the AFCON and the World Cup the storyline will change.”
Meanwhile, Ghana will to play Mali and Qatar in the FIFA International friendlies this month in Turkey as part of preparations for the upcoming AFCON qualifiers double-header against Sudan next month.
