Why The Ghana League Lacks Quality Players

Day in day out I hear club owners and locals soccer enthusiasts wailing at the declining nature of the Ghanaian league because all the players seem to be playing for foreign contracts. I however ask myself, why do you cry when you continue to deny these players what they deserve?

Taking a look at the various clubs in the Premier League I realized one worrying trend, overhauling of teams with players.

How can a club have as many as 40 or more first team players? How then do you even expect a coach to know the quality of his team ahead of a match day in a league where salaries range from as low as GHC30 to GHC500 on the average?

This was why I found it worrying when I heard that Premier League side Ashgold have completed the signing of ten players and promoted six of their academy players to the senior side ahead of the new season.  

With the addition of these sixteen players to the team what will be the remuneration for the players.

It is no surprise that Ghanaian footballers are increasingly making moves for financial reasons rather than sporting ones which has led to their careers taking a nose dive.   

Emmanuel Baffour, ex national goal king couldn’t wait for a practical move and jumped ship quickly to South Africa’s Mamelodi Sundowns in 2012 where he did not get playing time and currently looking forward to a move away from the club.

Also rising national goalie Fatau Dauda left local side Ashanti Gold to South Africa’s Orlando Pirates with no guarantees of first team action all because of what seems to be a new trend, finance.

I wouldn’t blame the players if the move to play outside is due to financial reasons because one cannot play in a league where remuneration is as low as GHC30 Cedis to GHC500 on the average.

We all attest to how the Ghana Football Association is struggling to attract sponsorship for the Premier League, after the expiration of the contract with Telecommunications giants Globacom.

Though the GFA spokesperson Ibrahim Sannie Daara has publicly asked companies to invest in the Premier League because it guarantees more exposure for potential sponsors than the GFA’s current cash cow, the Black Stars, with my little knowledge in marketing I know that unless a product is packaged correctly and attractively, there is no way there one would attract buyers.

So it is with sponsorship. I think the clubs and the FA need to get it right to attract better sponsorship deals and the stay of our players on the local scene.