Ghana’s Football Future at Risk: Elvis Afriyie Ankrah slams lack of youth progression

Elvis Afriyie Ankrah, Ghana’s former Youth and Sports Minister, is unhappy with the Ghana Football Association’s approach to developing young players.

According to him, the GFA’s inability to move players from the youth teams to the Black Stars has hurt Ghana’s football performance lately.

Elvis Afriyie Ankrah joins the chorus of fans and experts questioning the Black Stars’ player development strategy.

In an interview with Citi Sports, Ankrah stressed the need for a clear transition pathway from the under-17 level to the senior team, citing the current squad’s lack of young talent as a major concern.

For instance, Dede Ayew and Co, they were the badge that was right from that level that it got into the national team.

So, and today globally, is it one of these countries where I saw 17 year old boy [Lamine Yamal] who is playing for a major league in Europe

So if the talents are there, they have to be nurtured and they have to be integrated into the team.

And it must all be based on performance, competence and capability, not on connections, not on a coach or an FA member who has an interest in the player, so the player will get called up by the coach.

If you do that, it’s the kind of results that we were seeing.

So we must be objective, we must love the country more than ourselves, our own parochial and best interest.

This isn’t Ankrah’s first time speaking out about Ghana’s football issues. He previously blamed the Black Stars players for the 2014 World Cup scandal, citing their demand for unpaid appearance fees and refusal to train. He also questioned the players’ passion and commitment after their 1-1 draw against Niger in the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers.

It seems Ankrah is passionate about reforming Ghana’s football system, and his comments have sparked important conversations about the country’s football development.