Ghana Football Association

Ghana Football Association
CAF
Founded 1957
FIFA affiliation 1958
CAF affiliation 1958
President Kwesi Nyantakyi
Website http://www.ghanafa.org

The Ghana Football Association is the governing body of association football in Ghana, based in Accra.[1][2][3]

History

Gold Coast Football Association

Ghana Football Association (GFA) is the successor of the Gold Coast Football Association, which used to be the governing body for football in Ghana and was one of the oldest football associations in Africa, having been founded in 1920. Records indicate that Cape Coast, the capital of the central region of south Ghana; and Accra, Ghana's capital; are the first colonial cities in sub-Saharan Africa to host formal leagues in the Gold Coast. After a weak start in 1915, the league kicked off in 1922 with Accra Hearts of Oak Sporting Club emerging as winners, taking the coveted Guggisberg shield – named after the progressive British governor of that period and the man who started the Accra Football League, Sir Gordon Guggisberg.

Amateur status

Football was introduced into the Gold Coast0 towards the close of the 19th century by merchants from Europe, who had then invaded the coastal areas and built forts and castles to enhance their trading activities either in merchandise or human cargo. In their leisure time, the sailors would play football among themselves and with the indigenous people.

The popularity of the game spread quickly along the coast, culminating in the formation of the first football club, Excelsior, in 1903 by Mr. Briton, a Jamaican-born British citizen who was the then Head Teacher of Philip Quaque Government Boys School in Cape Coast. As the popularity of the game grew, other amateur clubs were formed along the coast along the coast, including: Accra Hearts of Oak, Accra Standfast, Cape Coast Venomous Vipers, Cape Coast Mysterious Dwarfs, Sekondi Hasaacas and Sekondi Eleven Wise all amateur clubs were formed.

The Gold Coast Amateur Football Association

In 1952, the Government of the Gold Coast enacted Ordinance 14, establishing the Gold Coast Amateur Sports Council and gaining legal authority to control all amateur Associations, including Football.

As the popularity of the game spread throughout the country, the existing clubs met towards the end of 1930 and elected Richard Maabuo Akwei as their Chairman.

Towards the middle of 1950, the clubs, spearheaded by Ohene Djan, accused Akwei of maladministration and questioned his ability to help grow Ghanaian Football. They therefore addressed petitions to the Governor of the Gold Coast, Sir Charles Arden-Clarke and the Pioneer Sports Organiser, Joseph Ranadurai, on the maladministration of the Amateur Football Association by Akwei. While the petition was being addressed, Ohene Djan led a “Football Revolution" and succeeded in toppling the Akwei Administration in 1957.

The Football Revolution – 1957

In 1957, Ohene Djan was elected General Secretary of the Football Association by the clubs and The Ghana Amateur Football Association was officially founded. Forward looking and dynamic as he was, he affiliated the Association to FIFA in 1958 and CAF in 1958.[4]

Djan was instrumental in securing sponsorship for the first Ghanaian FA cup competition from a Pharmaceutical Firm, Merrs R.R. Harding and Company. In the same year he succeeded in securing the services of an expatriate Coach, George Ainsley, for the National Team. Then in 1959, he succeeded again in organising the first national league, before Ghana became a republic on 1 July 1960.

The Winneba Declaration

Through the 1993 Winneba Declaration, Ghanaian football was able to shrug off its amateur status. The formation of professional teams allowed clubs to be incorporated under the companies code (Act 179, 1963) as Limited Liability Companies.

The Africa Cup of Nations

The Ghana Amateur Football Association was affiliated to CAF in 1958[4] and in 1963 won the bid to host the 5th Africa Cup of Nations, to coincide with the Meeting of the (OAU) Heads of States and Government in Accra. Ghana won the trophy and went ahead again to successfully defend it in Tunisia in 1965.

Mr. Ohene Djan was one of the pillars in African Football and in CAF. As one of the then leading political leaders in Africa, Osagyefo (""redeemer") Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, the first President of the Republic of Ghana, used football to chalk political victories as follows:

(i) he championed the cause of “African personality” in football;

(ii) he used football as a tool to fight against apartheid in South Africa;

(iii) he used football to weld the heterogeneous cultures of Africa together; and

(iv) he used football as a vehicle to place Ghana on the football map of Africa and the World.

In a nutshell, after the 1965 triumph, Ghana hosted and won the 13th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations trophy for keeps in 1978, and four years later, won it again in Tripoli, Libya. The team have won the Africa Cup of Nations four times (in 1963, 1965, 1978, and 1982), making Ghana the second most successful team in the contest's history, together with Cameroon.

Although the team did not qualify for the senior FIFA World Cup until 2006, Ghana has enjoyed tremendous success at the youth level, winning the FIFA World Under-17 title twice and finishing runner-up twice. Ghana has also finished second at the FIFA World Youth Championship twice.

Ghana became the first African country to win a medal in Football at the 1992 Summer Olympics.

In 2009, Ghana became the first African country to win the U-20 FIFA World cup by defeating favourite Brazil.

With regard to women's football, the Ghana Black Queens have participated in two World Cup tournaments and the Olympic Games. They have also been runners-up to the Falcons of Nigeria in the Africa Cup of Nations series.

Ghana last hosted the African Cup of Nations Tournament in January 2008.

Ghana have successfully qualified for the African Cup of Natuons Tournament in January 2017 after finishing top of Group H in the qualifying stages.

Presidents

Disciplinary Committee

Match-fixing allegations

An undercover investigation led by The Telegraph and Channel 4 accused Kwesi Nyantaky and other officials of the Ghana Federation of match-fixing. According to this information, the accusations involve just the international friendlies – thus, the World Cup matches wouldn't be affected by the suspicions[5] Kwesi Nyantakyi denied agreeing match fixing allegations, saying:"the report of the newspaper or the media house is entirely not accurate." "There is really no cause for alarm as far as I am concerned, because nothing untoward has happened involving me or the Federation".[6]

Asamoah Gyan's record

Asamoah Gyan became the first African footballer to score in three consecutive World Cups on 21 June 2014, also equaling Roger Milla’s record as the first African to have scored five goals in the competition.

On 26 June 2014, Gyan scored against Portugal in a World Cup group game to become Africa's all-time leading World Cup goal-scorer, with six goals.

In South Africa 2010, he was an integral player for the stars who helped in achieving a milestone for the country by becoming the third African team in history to reach the quarter finals.

Gyan is also Ghana’s all-time leading goal scorer with 42 goals in all competition.

2010 World Cup

In the 2010 world cup, Ghana came second in their group behind Germany. They went on to beat the United States in the 2nd round and therefore reached the quarter finals for the first time, where they faced Uruguay. The game saw lots of controversy as Luiz Suarez was sent off in the dying minutes for saving a goal with his hand. Asamoah Gyan then missed the penalty kick that ensued. Ghana lost to Uruguay in the penalty shoot-out and were knocked out. [7]

References

  1. ↑ "Southern Times-The Politics of Soccer How Kwame Nkrumah built a team of winners". Southerntimesafrica.com. Retrieved 2013-12-07.
  2. ↑ "Ghana Football Association signs 15-million US dollar sponsorship deal with Oil Company – Xinhua | English.news.cn". News.xinhuanet.com. 2013-01-05. Retrieved 2013-12-07.
  3. ↑ "Ghana Football Association signs $15-million sponsorship deal with Oil Company". Globaltimes.cn. 2013-01-05. Retrieved 2013-12-07.
  4. 1 2 CAF and FIFA, 50 years of African football – the DVD, 2009, Ghana Correspondence 18 June 1963.
  5. ↑ "Football match-fixing: Ghana deal casts cloud over World Cup finals in Brazil". The Telegraph. Retrieved 22 June 2014.
  6. ↑ "Nyantakyi denies agreeing match fixing contract". Ghana Football Federation. Retrieved 23 June 2014.
  7. ↑ Fletcher, P. Uruguay 1-1 Ghana (4-2 pens) BBC Sport. Retrieved 28 November 2016.
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