Former Youth and Sports Minister Elvis Afriyie Ankrah has underscored the importance of prioritizing national interests over favoritism in selecting players for the Black Stars.
Addressing Ghana’s recent poor performances, he emphasized the need for a robust player development pipeline that ensures seamless transitions from youth teams to the senior national squad.
Afriyie Ankrah criticized the Ghana Football Association (GFA) for its limited promotion of young talents from the U-17 and U-20 levels to the Black Stars, noting that the absence of such players has impacted the team’s fortunes. Fans, he highlighted, have been disappointed by the lack of continuity, with few players from youth levels advancing to the senior team.
Reflecting on past successes, Afriyie Ankrah pointed to examples like André Ayew, who rose through the ranks, demonstrating how nurturing young talent can benefit the senior team. “For instance, Dede Ayew and Co, they were the badge that was right from that level that it got into the national team.
So, and today globally, is it one of these countries where I saw 17 year old boy [Lamine Yamal] who is playing for a major league in Europe
So if the talents are there, they have to be nurtured and they have to be integrated into the team.
And it must all be based on performance, competence and capability, not on connections, not on a coach or an FA member who has an interest in the player, so the player will get called up by the coach.
If you do that, it’s the kind of results that we were seeing.
“So we must be objective, we must love the country more than ourselves, our own parochial and best interest,” he told Citi Sports.
Afriyie Ankrah urged stakeholders to adopt a transparent, merit-based approach to player selection, advocating for a system that develops future stars and elevates Ghanaian football.
