Sports Minister: Hosting AFCON 2017 won't burst Ghana's purse

Ghana stands to benefit rather than incur a loss should it win the bid to host the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations, sports Minister Mahama Ayariga has said.

The Lawmaker said on Friday that the country will not have to invest so much into constructing new stadia and infrastructure to host such a tournament since those facilities are already in place.


He said the stadia and other infrastructure constructed to host the 2008 AFCON in Ghana will come in handy for the 2017 Cup of Nations, should Ghana win the bid.


Ayariga explained that the country will only need to touch up some of the stadia and prop up a few infrastructure for the tournament.


“So Ghanaians should be rest assured that not much will go into rehabilitating the stadia,” he said.


According to him, corporate Ghana will also support the whole process since they stand to benefit from the tournament too.

“Overall, we stand to benefit from investments that we made in the past,” Ayariga stressed in an interview with private radio station, Citi FM.


Ghana has put together an eleven-member committee to bid for the right to host the 2017 AFCON. The committee will be supported by 6 football ambassadors.


The Committee members are: Ernest Thompson, the Chairman, who also doubles as the Director of SNNIT; Abedi Pele, the vice Chairman, Fred Crentsil – GFA Vice President, Randy Abbey, Herbert Mensah (Football Administrator and businessman), Dr. Nyaho Nyaho Tamakloe, Lepowura MND Jawula, Nana Sam Brew Butler (All former GFA Chairmen), Alex Mould (CEO of GNPC), Rex Danquah, the secretary, who also doubles as a Consultant and Sports Expert and Alhaji Abdulai Yakubu, the Chief Director of the Ministry of Youth and Sports).


The Ambassadors are ex-Black Stars players Stephen Appiah, Tony Yeboah Tony Baffoe, Ibrahim Sunday, Abdul Razak and former WBC Featherweight champion, Azumah Nelson.