Black Stars' AFCON Qualifiers Debacle: What Kurt Okraku, other GFA officials have said so far

The Black Stars of Ghana had a disastrous 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying campaign, finishing bottom of their group.

Surprisingly, Ghana failed to record a single win in the qualifiers, ending with an abysmal record of three losses and three draws in six games.

The team concluded the qualifiers with a shocking 1-2 home defeat to Niger on Monday, November 18, 2024. As a result, Ghana will miss the AFCON for the first time since 2004, ending a 20-year streak.

This embarrassing situation has sparked varied reactions from members of the Ghana Football Association (GFA).

Here’s what the officials have said thus far:

Kurt Okraku

The GFA president, Kurt Okraku, admitted that the Black Stars’ decline is concerning after reaching a "higher height" in March 2022.

However, he assured fans that efforts would be made to "fix the problem."

"From the highest heights of world football on the 29th of March 2022 to the lowest ebb of AFCON qualifying matches. My heart bleeds. This is definitely not what we wanted or bargained for. At this point, only cool heads can prevail. We, as leaders of our sport, will stay united, be honest with ourselves, and fix this problem," he wrote on Facebook.

Simon Ehomah

The Western Region Football Association (WRFA) chairman asserted that football administrators, often called "football people," believe in the vision of the GFA president.

He added that journalists are the only group complaining about the state of football in the country.

"We (football people) know we will get there; we understand him (Kurt Okraku). The only people complaining are journalists and not football people," he told Connect FM.

Ameenu Shardow

The Black Stars' team manager argued that the team’s performances did not align with their poor results, insisting that they were better than the narrative suggested.

"It’s only the results that are yet to come, but if you look at the performances of the team in most of the games, we performed better than the results we got," Shardow said on Happy FM.

"If we are going to be honest and factual about happenings, our first game against Angola—did anything suggest to you that we deserved to lose the game?"

"When you pipe down the emotions and go deeper into the details to analyze the games, you’ll see that we performed well."

Shardow insisted that based on their performances, the Black Stars should have topped the group.

"If the performance of the team in all the games we played is anything to go by, Ghana was supposed to top the group unless you want to be blind to the facts."

Henry Asante Twum

The GFA spokesperson expressed confidence in Otto Addo’s ability to lead the Black Stars into the 2026 World Cup qualifiers, despite their poor showing in the AFCON qualifiers.

"Otto Addo qualified us for the World Cup in Qatar, but at that time, there was Chris Hughton, George Boateng, and Didi Dramani," he said.

"I admit that this time it is different, but I believe Otto Addo and his technical team are competent and capable of delivering World Cup qualification," he added.

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