Former Black Stars Captain, Stephen Appiah, faced the Parliamentary Select Committee on Sports on September 25, 2024, to express his concerns about Ghanaian football.
The invitation to the ex-footballer is part of ongoing investigations into the awful performance of Ghana at the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations which saw the country failing to progress from the group phase.
Stephen Appiah noted that the Ghanaian players abroad’s struggles in the Black Stars team are due to the lack of assimiliation of the Ghanaian culture which emanates from less socialization in camp.
The legendary Black Stars player mentioned that it is essential for the Black Stars coaches to be calling the local players to play for the national team because such system worked during their time.
Here are the five crucial takes by Stephen Appiah when he faced parliamentary committee on sports:
1. These foreign-based players, some of them, don’t speak our local language. When we go to camp, it’s not like in our time when, after lunch or dinner, we would sit, interact, mock each other, and pray together. But today, they go to camp and struggle to adapt because they don’t know the culture. It’s not about respect or disrespecting the coaches. I haven’t seen such a thing.
2. The local players should be given the chance to play for the national team. In our time, there were key players, but we worked hard for it. For instance, in the 2004 World Cup, Osei Kufuor, who was playing in Italy, was benched in the second game for Shilla Illiasu, who was playing for Kotoko. There are other instances where local players did well for the team.
3. It is not only the captain; all the players who come to the national team have to be committed because it is an honor to represent Ghana. For the past five years, we have been struggling, and it is not only the captain who should be blamed. If the people you are working with have the same goal, it works.
4. The Black Stars coaches are earning so much, but the Under 17, 20, and 23 coaches do not earn anything. So if I am a coach and an agent gives me money to select a player, I will accept it. So we have to make sure the other coaches are satisfied like the Black Stars coaches.
5. I will blame the coaches for some disrespectful acts in the camp because they have the mandate to make decisions on which players play. So once you realize a player thinks they are beyond you, the coach, you have to take certain drastic decisions.