Former Asante Kotoko and Aduana Stars forward Yahaya Mohammed is urging the Ghana Football Association (GFA) to provide more opportunities for local players to join the Black Stars, citing a lack of representation in recent call-ups.
Currently, only two home-based players—Kotoko’s Frederick Asare and Samartex’s Isaac Afful—made the squad for the recent qualifiers against Sudan, with local talents often overlooked. Mohammed, a former Black Galaxies forward, pointed out that past stars like Asamoah Gyan and Kwadwo Asamoah rose to prominence while playing domestically, and he believes that today’s local players deserve similar chances to prove themselves.
“It’s important to give local players a fair chance. Our local players deserve the same opportunities we gave the likes of Asamoah Gyan and Kwadwo Asamoah,” Mohammed told Kessben FM. “They need more playing time to shine. No one can judge their abilities if they’re not given the chance.”
Mohammed further criticized the Black Stars’ technical team for calling up international players to replace those unavailable for the Sudan matches, bypassing local options.
“Four players were unable to join the Black Stars for the Sudan games but the technical team overlooked the local players despite their monitoring and went for another foreign players as replacement. It means they have no plans for the local players for now” he added.
The Black Stars will return to action against Angola and Niger in their final Group F games next month. Currently, Ghana needs victories in both matches and a favorable result for Sudan to secure qualification for next year’s tournament in Morocco.
