From Ball Boy to Chief of Defence Staff: Lt. Gen. William Agyapong tells his story

The Chief of Defence Staff, Lieutenant General William Agyapong, has revealed that he once served as a ball boy at the El-Wak Stadium during his youth.

He disclosed that he and his friends visited the stadium to play such roles ahead of the 1978 African Cup of Nations (AFCON) hosted in Accra.

The Chief of Defence Staff made this revelation during the 2026 Democracy Cup Trophy Tour organised by the Parliament of Ghana.

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“I was a ball boy at El-Wak when they were preparing the Accra Sports Stadium for the 1978 Cup of Nations. I was there during the wonders of El-Wak. We were a group of boys who lived just behind the stadium. The man in charge of stadium management was a WO, so anytime we got there, he opened the gate for us,” he said.

Lt. Gen. Agyapong further explained that the stadium manager gave them access to the facility during games, and while his friends often squeezed through the fences to reach the pitch, his physique made that difficult.

“I had a problem. Immediately, the gates were opened; my friends found their way through the fence to the football field. I could not because of my big head, and the only place I could pass was the middle, so I had to go further in. That was how things were back then and how we became fans of football,” he added.

Speaking on the relevance of the Democracy Cup, he remarked, “Democracy has come to stay. It thrives in an area where there is peace and unity. We have reaffirmed our commitment to the constitutional rule of Ghana and will continue to push this agenda.”

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