After three rounds of voting at the College of Physicians and Surgeons in Accra on 25th of October, 2019, Kurt Okraku had 93 votes to emerge as the President of the Ghana Football Association in a tensed atmosphere.
The outcome meant Ghana Football has had a new face for the next four years after Kwesi Nyantakyi had led the Association for 13 years.
The former GFA President since elected into office has received plaudits from many including SWAG President, Kwabena Yeboah, Amanda Clinton and Eleven Wonders Chief, Albert Commey for undertaking his duties well.
3Sports takes you through some of his key achievement after spending a year at the highest office of Ghana Football.
Bring Back The Love campaign
One to fix your mistake is to identify it and work towards it – that was exactly what the Kurt led administration did. They realized the people of Ghana had lost the love they had for the Black Stars after the 2014 FIFA World Cup and AFCON 2019 debacle.
The campaign, hash-tagged #BringBackTheLove was aimed at igniting passion and galvanizing support for the Black Stars as they see to redeem themselves after series of failures.
The Cape Coast sports stadium was filled to capacity in Ghana’s game against South Africa in the 2021 AFCON qualifier.
The exploit of digital media
The Ghana Football Association led by Kurt Okraku ensured that all GFA organized Competitions will have a handle on Twitter to keep conversations around games going and update from various league centers.
Selected games of Women’s Premier League was streamed on Facebook to a greater number of audience during the 2019-2020 truncated league season.
Partnership and sponsorship deals
It was always going to be difficult to get a sponsor or a partner for the GFA after the number 12 expose.
Kurt embarked on a cooperate tour after few months into office. His visits paid off with deals.
The GFA announced a five-year deal with StarTimes as the Television Right Holders for the major competitions of the FA on January 8. The deal was worth $5.25m.
They went on to sign partnership deals with Macron and Decathlon as match ball sponsors for the various competitions organized by the FA.
Allowance for Women’s Premier League Players
The GFA on July 02 announced that Authorities of YEA have agreed to pay 500 female footballers for a period of six month after series of meetings.
30 players from each Premier League clubs were entitled to a stipend of GH₵500 monthly.
Catch them young referee policy
In an attempt to improve the standard of officiating in the country, the FA as promised launched the “Catch Them Young Refereeing” policy to unearth young talented referees.
He also acquired officiating gadgets for match officials, absorbed fees for Match Commissioners and referees.
What the upcoming year’s should focus on
Moving forward, the Ghana Football Association should focus on strengthening football at the colts level to help produce the next superstars for Ghana Football and African Football at large.
Source: 3news.com
