Ghanaian football clubs must market themselves

Celebrated South African journalist, Thomas Kwenaite, has urged Ghanaian football clubs to market themselves well, in other to become attractive to corporate sponsors.

The ‘Soccer Africa’ pundit said the South African PSL used to be at the same level as the Ghana league, but it rebranded itself to attract corporate attraction.

Speaking to Class Sports’ Hussein Hassan, Kwenaite corrected the long-held misconception that South African clubs had it easier from the onset, saying: “Let me correct the misconception that sponsors are going after clubs in South Africa, it didn’t use to be like that.”

“From the onset, the clubs had to go to the corporates for sponsorship but in 1996, the board of directors for professional clubs came up with an idea to form a new Premier League and demand for what they deserve.

“They demanded for an amount of 1.6 billion rand from television and other corporate bodies. The amount meant each club will be entitled to a 1 million rand grant per month.”

He added: “It cannot be that a country that has produced players like Abedi Pele, Frank Amankwah, Tony Yeboah, and Michael Essien, will still remain the poorer cousin of some of their African brothers in terms of the financial strength of their league.”

The South African Premier Soccer League is deemed one of the most exciting leagues on the continent owing to the amount of money pumped into the league yearly.