PHG Foundation & Consultancy Partners - Community Innovation & Projects Development Centre - Ghana

Summary :

Ghana Football Association, Ministry of Youth & Sports & all Stakeholders should apply sustainable bottom - up Grassroot developmental models to scout for Youth talents across the Rural & Peri Urban Communities ensuring inclusive opportunities and progressive growth to save the ever sinking football & sports development systemic performance !

As many Sports enthusiasts across the world especially football lovers in the country are in shock, as to why the National Team of Ghana, the Black Stars failed to qualify for the AFCON 2025, which is to be held in Morocco, PHG Foundation & Consultancy Partners, who focus on Grassroot Innovation & Research Development, having engaged local Communities and People, wish to bring to the notice of the Ghana Football Association, Sports Development Organizations and all stakeholders involved in Sports Development especially the Ministry of Youth & Sports, the Ministry mandated and responsible for Youth Development through Sports , to re - consider their modus operandi and approaches in developing talents across the Country especially for  Football and Sports at large.

We appeal to stakeholders to consider these human - centered design engagement  factors with urgency and prompt action to prevent the ever Ghana Football systemic sinking ship from sinking further by having a system - diagnostics holistic approach to Youth talent Development in Ghana !

We suggest these !

1. Football and Sports development should be a top priority for Youth wellness & National  development in Ghana by the Ministry of Youth and Sports. Focus should be on developing every Youth, below 18 and above, to be healthy for development of the Country through sports  across every district. It should be approached from collaborative stakeholders approach at the District and Community level by Government, Non - Governmental Organizations and all Stakeholders. If treated as part of National Development through Health & Wellness Sports Promotion, many Youth , who form the working population will be very active as Government reaps the benefit of a Hale & Hearty population as Japan has developed

2. The Sports( Football ) Talent development should focus on intentional Grassroot Talent Scouting system of inclusivity, in terms of Geographical location ( Rural, Peri Urban , Urban  & Cities) and economic inequality.There is this saying, that Talent is Everywhere, but Opportunity is not .

         It is worth noting, that, the only goal scored by The Black Stars in the 2025 AFCON qualifiers at home was scored by a local player, who plays at the Division 2, Jerry Afriyie, who was added as surplus. Infact, many Ghanaians, cannot remember, the last time, a player from the local league or dwelling in Ghana, was allowed to wear the Black Stars Jersey. Talent and Abilities are everywhere, indeed, it is opportunity, which is not, so when your own country People, Coaches, Management of Sports /Football etc fail to expand opportunities to all,  looking down upon players and individuals whose talents shine, because they play in the local football leagues and across the local grassroot communities in their own country, then, that nation is bound to suffer. It was therefore, a bad taste to hear People paid to develop home grown talents making remarks such as " there is no exceptional talents in Ghana to play for the Black Stars, "I worked under Krup and listen to Coaches like Krup" , etc comments.
      Ghana football/sports should go back to their root and add modernity. Comments like, all best Players play abroad, and are in top teams/leagues is just short sighted,because, not all talents get the opportunity to travel outside, but and continue to remain rare hidden gems.
It is an opportunity that they need to flourish. This focus on only top branded leagues as exciting as they are, have almost every thing in place readily, available to them, and most home grown exceptionally talented players, when given the opportunity from childhood will excel if the environment enables them to flourish.
This is the environment, the Sports Ministry & Talent Development Agencies have to collaborate to focus, and break the inequality and balancing the inequitable distribution of resources.

  3. The Ghana Football DNA redefining should focus on intentional Inclusivity from the Rural Grassroot Skills unearthing and Community inclusivity for National cohesion. Focus on bringing the raw grassroot rural talents across the regions, districts and communities to the table for open competition and polishing. Almost all Ghanaian players who have flourished at the top leagues and performed for the Back Stars were scouted across the rural , urban and villages and refined or polished to excel. There is this luck around People, who appear to be excluded when they are brought in across the urban and rural communities. They appear to have the support of their rural grassroot communities and they aim to shine to be a role model for others, because they know where they were. Inclusivity is key for any National Talent Development.

4. Partner with Talent Development Agencies, and conduct unbias talent Inclusivity scouting through bottom - Up Grassroot Talent approach models across the whole country setting up Talent Management Centres at Districts and Regions with stakeholders partnership, ensuring there is a National Policy and Technical direction on their progression from various youth level to Professionals. The focus should be to strengthen the talent grooming across the country, and not to be looking out there, to other foreign countries, who have groomed their talents, to come and play for the Ghana Senior National Team. There should be a policy quota on this representing not more than 20%, to ensure, home grown talents progress from youth amateur levels to professional progression till retirement is a top priority. In fact, how the black stars of years, have handled the retirement/ exit of most key players from the Black Stars, also leaves much to be desired.

     5. Check the National Sports Development Policies and Technical direction roles, if there's a template of excellence that can be emulated and developed especially the C.K Gyamfi's, Ben Kwoffie's, the Coach Oti Akenten template and redefine to improve etc

Germany when they were beaten by Brazil at the World Cup, had to go back to the table, check their national policies on Youth Talent Development and progression. They also had to check their system and style of Football DNA, where they had focused on the "German Machine" where most of their goals were scored with the head and long shots.
  They found, they lacked the holding midfield stylish play, which was the trend of the day.

So what did they do ?  They had to change their National Policy on talent development and technical direction including inclusivity and opportunity to youth from foreign countries, who were not given the opportunity to play for them because, as they preferred Germans alone. This brought in young players  like Mesut Ozil(a son of a Turkish Immigrant), Khedira etc who could have played for Turkey and Tunisia respectively.
   Gerald Asamoah, with a Ghanaian background for the first time, was allowed to play for the German National Team. Followed by Jerome Boateng etc. at the National Team. Now most skillful players and other young talents with immigrants background knew they could play for the German National Team and this made them prepare themselves to be given the opportunity to play for the Germans at various levels.
 
The Likes of Ozil, Khedira with their other counterparts investment paid off after almost 12 years, when they won the 2014 World Cup beating the same Brazil 7 - 1 on the home ground of Brazil as the host. This is after they suffered 2 -nil, from Brazil  some years ago at the 2002 World Cup.

Now, that generation is over, and they are rebuilding again. They may struggle a little to keep the high global standard, but they have a template plan to revisit any time !

The question is - Where is Ghana Football ( Sports )  Youth Development  Implementation Plan template?

  They (Germans) invested in local talent development, scouted across the whole country, invested in infrastructure, changed their policy, checked their technical direction, managerial, developed skills training centers , embracing a number of stakeholders and saw football ( Sports ) talent development as a priority for National Development especially for the Many Youth.

  These and many other approaches, with action - oriented planning can be the starting point for stakeholders to engage and rethink Ghana Football & Sports Talent Development in general, as a tool for developing the Youth in Ghana and Africa, the bedrock for any Nations Development. It is time to reinvent the grassroot with modernity approaches to halt the systemic Football ( Sports) sinking ship state, from going out of sight, into the deep seas, only to have the remnant of their past glories as discussion points. The signs and symptoms started a long time before the normalisation committee and they still persist, as no garnishing or surface scratching can reverse the trend. Stakeholders should go deeper to the root cause !!

Thank you !

- Michael A. Nsowah, Programmes Innovation Lead - PHG Foundation.

- Talent Development Coach

- PHG Foundation & their HCD Consultancy Partners have initiated a number of Projects, Programmes & Research - driven innovative solutions for Rural & Urban Communities Development in Ghana & Africa, working with a number of Developmental Organizations, NGOs & Local District Assemblies.

- Their mission is for the Transformation of Lives & Communities in Ghana & Africa especially utilizing local innovation and research solutions to solve local problems for Youth, Women  & Communities Development.

-  They were awarded as the "Innovative Rural Development Leader" at the recent Ghana Philanthropy Awards, 2024

Contact: info@phgfoundationafrica.org, maduseinsowah@gmail.com