Former National Democratic Congress (NDC) Flagbearer, John Dramani Mahama, unveils plans to rejuvenate the Ghanaian national football team, the Black Stars, by shifting the focus towards local players.
This initiative comes in the aftermath of the Black Stars’ disappointing performance at the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Ivory Coast, where they faced elimination at the group stage, managing only two points in their quest to end a 42-year trophy drought.
Mahama emphasizes the NDC’s strategy, highlighting the importance of building a foundation around local talent and collaborating closely with the Ghana Football Association (GFA) to establish a robust team.
Reflecting on Ghana’s recent AFCON campaign, Mahama criticizes the lack of football development and pledges to nurture young talents from an early age, channeling them into local teams for experience before potential international exposure.
The former flagbearer outlines the vision for the “new Black Stars” based on homegrown players, advocating for domestic players who have trained together for an extended period and worked as a cohesive team.
“We just came from the African Cup of Nations and we performed abysmally disastrously. We performed abysmally because we are not growing our football and so and we are going to work with the Football Association to start catching them young from when they are young so that we can train them and give them to local teams they will play get experience before if they even want to travel abroad they can travel.”
Mahama emphasizes the need for a blend with foreign players, emphasizing that bringing only foreign players doesn’t ensure effective teamwork.
“We will build the new Black Stars based on homegrown players, domestic players who have trained together for a long time and worked as a team. And then we will bring the foreign ones to come and blend with them. If you bring only foreign players they don’t play together in their teams and then when it is time for competition you bring them and come and tell them to play if won’t work.”
Mahama details the NDC’s comprehensive plan to overhaul Ghana’s football landscape, focusing on collaboration with the Ghana Football Association.
The core principle involves forming a Black Stars squad primarily composed of domestic players who have trained and played together for an extended period.
“The core of the Black Stars must be made of domestic players who have played together for a long time we keep camping them and they keep practising together and when we are going to a competition we can bring some of the foreign players to join the domestic players and you see that we will have a better team and so we are going to overhaul Ghana football in collaboration with the Ghana Football Association,” he added.
This strategy aims to create a stronger, more cohesive team for international competitions, addressing the challenges highlighted by Ghana’s recent AFCON campaign that included a defeat against Cape Verde and two draws against Egypt and Mozambique.
