President of the Ghana Football Association- Kurt Okraku- says it’s so ‘disrespectful’ on the part of Ghanaians to tag him as a leader who influences players’ selection in the various national teams.
Mr. Okraku who owns Ghana Premier League side Dreams FC, has incessantly been accused of influencing particularly the technical handlers of the Black Stars team to always include right-back Philemon Baffour in their call-ups without even kicking a ball.
Ghana disappointedly exited the tournament in Cameroon after a shocking 3-2 defeat to Comoros on Tuesday.
The result saw Ghana finish at the bottom of Group C after failing to win any of their three group matches.
Also, this is the first time since 2006 that the Black Stars have been eliminated from the AFCON in the group stages.
“First of all, It is so disrespectful not only to my leadership but to at least the leadership of the EXCO, which is made up of individuals with independent opinion and also disrespectful to coach Milovan and the rest of the technical team,” Kurt Okraku told Kessben FM in an interview.
He added: “Who belongs to Kurt Okraku, U mean who, Kurt Okraku is an investor in Ghana football. I have football clubs and it’s possible some of my players would be of higher quality and it’s that they have higher quality and attract the attention of any of the technical teams so be it. They are all Ghanaians so the fact that Kurt is the FA president should not deprive or deny any player of Dreams FC to be looked at by the National team selectors or to serve their country. It’s unfair, every player who represented Ghana at the AFCON deserved to be there and that is why the coach chose them.
“It’s very unfortunate for people to target a young boy like Philemon Baffour, he plays for Dreams FC and he was one of the players who excelled at the U-20 Afcon and that is why the national team selectors invited him. I think people are being unfair to him. The young man is a Ghanaian and he has worked his sort out a club level and deserves to be in the team.” the WAFU zone B President added.
Meanwhile, Ghana will play rivals Nigeria in the Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup play-offs in March.
The Black Stars will first host the Super Eagles in Ghana at the Baba Yara Stadium in Kumasi before they later fly to Abuja-Nigeria for the reverse fixture.
