Hearts of Oak’s embarrassing defeat to Wydad Athletic Club in the CAF Champions League match on Sunday has exposed the low standards of Ghana football.
Hearts won the 2020-21 Ghana Premier league and the MTN FA Cup but struggled against Moroccan champions Wydad Athletic Club. The problem of Ghana Football goes beyond only Hearts of Oak; the entire football system is wobbly.
About eight (8) players who competed in the 2020-21 Ghana Premier League have joined north African clubs to compete for African competitions while Ghanaian clubs struggle to keep their stars. Salifu Moro, Diawisie Taylor, Abraham Wayo, Joseph Esso l,Benjamin Bernard Boateng, George Amoako, Daniel Lomotey,Kwame Poku and Benjamin Afutu Kotey are all players who could have still played in the local league but opted to join north African clubs due to mainly financial or economic reasons.
Ghanaian clubs cannot keep top Stars; Hearts of Oak failed to keep their defensive midfielder Benjamin Afutu who has joined an Egyptian side this season. In this case, you cannot compete with them (North African teams) because they have the quality.
Ghanaian clubs cannot sign quality players. Hearts signed ten players and couldn’t break the bank to sign any top star in any of the leagues in Africa in sharp contrast with WAC and other North African clubs which buy quality outside their leagues.
Player welfare, the quality of our pitches and how the Ghana Premier league is organised contribute immensely to our teams’ abysmal performance in Africa in recent times.
The Ghana Football Association must do an honest assessment of Ghana football in order to chart a progressive path or continue to “disgrace ourselves in Africa”.