Government must come to the aid of football clubs – Anim Addo

Executive Council member of the GFA, Samuel Anim Addo has called on the government to come to the aid of football clubs in the country because the association has been badly hit by the coronavirus pandemic.

The increase in coronavirus cases led to the halt of football activities in the country. As a result, clubs are unable to make returns on their investments on club football.

The clubs who have expressed their frustrations wrote through the Football Association for government to consider adding them to the stimulus package rolled out to support private businesses in the country.

The Deputy Sports Minister in this regard disclosed that the sports fraternity has not been included in the packaged.

Expressing how disturbing the pandemic has affected football clubs in Ghana, Samuel Anim Addo who is a club owner revealed that club owners will be in great trouble if the government or corporate entities do not come to their aid.

“If we are going to always raise funds from our own pockets, the little we’ve earned from our private businesses into the game then we are in for trouble,” Anim Addo said in a recent interview.

He added, “It is time that we get support from government and corporate organizations to make sure that the game will be played the way it ought to be played because all these corporate brands use football to promote their brands. It is clear that they use football as a channel so they have to come in so that the game will rise to the level we all want and then we enjoy the fruit of it.”

The CEO of Young Apostles further espoused that they only make returns from their investments in football through player transfers. According to him, clubs are currently running their clubs with monies from private businesses.

We the people in the game in Ghana are really suffering because the little that I have saved through private businesses for my family has to be used for the game. In our part of the world, what we do is to pay the boys till we get a transfer fee from a boy who gets to Europe then we get some good money else all the money you earn from a private business will have to be invested into the game.