The Kevin Prince Boateng Saga And Matters Arising

by Elorm Kojo Ntumy

To describe Kevin Prince Boateng as unpopular in Ghana would be a gross understatement. His decision to “resign”, due to health reasons, from international football and by extension the Black Stars can only be described as shocking at the very least. At the young age of twenty four, one would have thought Kevin Prince Boateng still had a lot of vitality within his legs to churn out a few more sterling performances for the Black Stars.





Apparently, whatever health reasons he stated seem to afflict him only when he wears the jersey of the Black stars and not that of his club side AC Milan. I believe he deserves the benefit of the doubt, with the multitude of infections out there in the world perhaps he contracted one which is triggered only when he plays football in our hot African climate, who am I to condemn him, his doctors know best.

The Kevin Prince Boateng debacle raises the larger question of the nation’s love affair with foreign based players and players opting for nationality switches. From where I stand I believe we have developed an overreliance on foreign players to the detriment of our local footballing talent. All one has to do these days is to be a Ghanaian of foreign descent, request to switch nationality and you are guaranteed an automatic first team place in the Black Stars.


It appears the GFA prides itself on the number of foreign players it can gather into the national team, even to the extent of assembling high profile delegations travelling from continent to continent just trying to convince players to opt for the Black Stars. The GFA claims every player whether local or foreign has an equal chance of making it into the Black Stars but we all know the foreign players have the first rights of refusal and only then does the GFA begin to consider the local players.


One interesting point to note is that in the case of the foreign players most of them decide to join the Black Stars only after all efforts to secure call ups to their home sides have failed. Why do we continue to make these players a priority when to them we are only an option?


I doubt they possess any extraordinary abilities which cannot be found in of our local football players yet we are prepared to bend over backwards simply to please them. Everyone complains about the decline of the local league yet we do not realise that our relegating local players to the background is a contributing factor. What higher honour and motivation is there to a player than to receive a call up to serve his nation at the highest level yet we deliberately ignore our locally based players and complain when they fail to deliver top notch performances every time.


Ghanaians everywhere must have an equal chance of earning a call up to the national side irrespective of which part of the world he happens to originate from. Granted there are some foreign players whose performance for The Black Stars is above average and worthy of commendation. However the preferential treatment accorded to some of them must stop. No player is bigger than the national team and no player has a permanent place in the Black stars subsequently anyone who displays insubordination should simply be excluded from selection. There are thousands of success hungry youngsters out there more than eager to prove their worth; all they need is the motivation and the right platform.

All said and done you have to admire Kevin Prince Boateng for the calculating way he approached the Black Star call up, almost like a business venture. When he realised his career was in a decline and the threat of relegation looming in his face he needed an escape route and who should come calling but the Black Stars. He played a few games, performed admirably and now that his career is steadily rising he realises it is time to back up his bags and bid goodbye to Ghana. Almost like businessman who invests money in a bank then later withdraws to invest elsewhere after the initial profit has been made.


To be honest I hope he wins the CAF player of the year award for no other reason than to see the reactions of Ghanaian football fans


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