The President of Ghana Football Association (GFA), Kurt Edwin Simon Okraku has called for calm within the football community with regards to the issues affecting the sport.
“I want to call for calm, we shall take a decision in the interests of everybody. We will communicate our decision if we decide to either cancel or truncate the season. I have personally taken custody of the protocols from Germany, Czech Republic, England and other countries.”
GFA President, Kurt Okraku
The GFA President was speaking on GTV Sports +. Touching on the cancellation of the Ghana Premier League, he says,
“I want to call for calm, we shall take a decision in the interests of everybody. We will communicate our decision if we decide to either cancel or truncate the season. I have personally taken custody of the protocols from Germany, Czech Republic, England and other countries… what I did was to hand over the documents to the GFA medical committee for them to advise the FA. Other stakeholders are still being engaged for the good of the game.”
He continued, “At the last Executive Council (Exco) meeting, we gave ourselves up till the end of June to make a decision. We are considering all scenarios, in our engagements with stakeholders. Our medical team led by Dr. Adam Baba is working very hard to come up with a document for us to consider.”
With regards to a pay cut for footballers, he has this view,
“I share in the pain of club owners at this point in time. Throughout the world when issues like this comes up, the issue of salary comes up. The Federation of International Football Association (FIFA) has spoken about the issue. They (FIFA) don’t want us touch the salaries of footballers but its something that has come to our attention and we would like to respect the decision of FIFA.”
With regards to sponsorship, he says “Since 2017, we haven’t played a league and declared a winner, which is a big problem because no sponsor wants to be associated with a product which is consistently inconsistent….
I think our football has gotten to a point where we need to allow science to play a role. It is something that my administration will look into.”
He then discussed the loss of revenue to the GFA. “As we speak, there’s no decision as whether the Ghana Premier League would be cancelled or not. We are still in talks. If we are to cancel the league, it will be another trying period for players, clubs, referees and everybody involved in football. I don’t have the exact figures as to how much revenue clubs will lose if the league is cancelled. But you don’t expect sponsors to continue sponsoring when there are no football activities.”
The GFA President also touched on the contentious FIFA fund which has drawn various comments from soccer pundits. “We are also waiting for FIFA to fast track the process and get us the Emergency COVID-19 fund.
We are expecting two funds from FIFA. The FIFA forward and the FIFA Covid-19 fund.”
“Regarding the FIFA forward money, you cant withdraw cash, you cant take a loan with the cash and you can’t misappropriate the fund.
We have explained this to the clubs again and again. We are expecting the emergency fund and we shall share that with the clubs when the money is paid to the FA.”
GFA President, Kurt Okraku
He explained, “Regarding the FIFA forward money, you cant withdraw cash, you cant take a loan with the cash and you can’t misappropriate the fund.
We have explained this to the clubs again and again. We are expecting the emergency fund and we shall share that with the clubs when the money is paid to the FA.”
As to the government stimulus package, the GFA President noted, “In other countries, government gives direct money to clubs….it exists in Ivory Coast, Spain, Nigeria… Football is amazing and it can only be harnessed properly if all of us are able to work together.”
Mr Okraku suggested that if we are able to overcome the challenges of this Covid-19 period, the youth will stay at home and watch football.
He disclosed that the FA has spoken to the clubs, Referees Association and other stakeholders and he is aware of cabinet discussions and he expects some positive outcome for the industry.
He indicated that prior to the pandemic, the FA had engaged government and met President Akufo-Addo on support for the game. He added that the engagements were all going well till the advent of the pandemic.
According to Kurt, “Football is perhaps one of the biggest vehicles in solving some of our social problems in this country. Fortunately for us, discussions have gone very well. We now waiting to hear from government.”
An upbeat Kurt concluded that“Aside government, we have engaged WAFU, CAF and FIFA and the FIFA President Gianni Infantino has decided to push the FIFA forward from July to an earlier date and so far it has been good.”
Mustapha Hadji (Dean of Sports)
