President of the Ghana Football Association (GFA) Kurt Okraku
President of the Ghana Football Association (GFA) Kurt Okraku has said the sport governing body is going through a financial turmoil of its own.
Outlining the challenges it is facing, dealing with keeping a balance around the Covid-19 era, Kurt Okraku said the FA is working hard to restore the gains made prior to the pandemic.
Speaking to the media after a press briefing Wednesday, the GFA President underscored the importance of understanding the crisis the football world is going through.
“There are quite a number of challenging areas but obviously, it all comes down to money. Clubs may have to play behind closed doors.”
An option like that, he noted, means money will be lost.
“The NSA will have to prepare the facilities for us. Some of the clubs use their own facilities; money plays a big part. The sports economy is very small and not robust. And, therefore, this is a challenging period where we have to think outside the box, be very fair in our thinking process and ensure that the best decision is taken for Ghana.”
Stakeholders continue to brood over when the Ghana Premier League gets to return but the GFA President says a decision will be taken in the best interest of all by June 30.
Beyond Covid-19, he is hopeful that the FA will not rely heavily on support from CAF and FIFA alone to keep up.
“The Ghana Football Association has heavily relied on FIFA and CAF’s support, which is clearly inadequate. We need to find ways to develop our products in a way that will attract the interest of corporate Ghana, so, we can have excess funding to effectively and sufficiently take care of our football clubs and stakeholders.”
There is no visible hope of the Ghana Premier League returning soon after recent restrictions on contact sports.
For most shareholders, the more the restrictions stay on, the more cost they have to bear.
