The Nigerian Football Association (NFA) has reportedly dragged Ghana and Black Stars coach Burkhard Ziese to football’s world governing body, FIFA, for bringing the third-placed match at the LG four-nation football tournament in Lagos into disrepute.
In a statement widely circulated on the Internet, Nigeria accused Ghana of embarrassing the organisers and sponsors of the tournament by refusing to play the third-place match against Iran. It was particularly critical of the behaviour of coach Burkhard Ziese for his role in the abortive match.
A report submitted to the Ghana Football Association (GFA) by officials who led the Ghanaian contingent to the tournament also accused Burkhard Ziese of stepping beyond his duties by preventing the Ghana select side from playing the match.
The officials’ report called on the GFA to properly define the role of the coach and spell out his powers as far as his work in Ghana is concerned. The report blamed the coach for initiating acts that led to the cancellation of the match.
Mr. Ziese, who reported at the tournament after the team had lost the first match 1-3 to Nigeria, made several demands on the organisers and the NFA and later asked the players to boycott the match, although in the view of the other officials of the Ghanaian delegation those demands did not warrant a boycott, according to the report.
According to sources, even though the match officials had cleared the field for the game to start, the coach failed to yield, prompting the Iranian side that had been waiting on the field for close to half an hour to walk off to the dressing room. The leader of the Ghanaian delegation, Mr. Kojo Quarshie, corroborated this.
Although Ghana later agreed to honour the match, the Iranian were in no mood to play. The result was that the third-place match never took place. The organisers, however awarded the Black Stars the third place medals and a dummy cheque for the $20,000 that was meant to go with it.
However, when the Ghanaian team demanded the actual cheque before leaving Nigeria, the Nigerians refused on the found that Ghana’s prize will have to be slashed for the team’s role in having the match called off.
Meanwhile, the organisers of the competition were expected to send an official correspondence to the GFA on how much of the $20,000 will be awarded the country. The correspondence is also expected to include some other issues of relevance at the tournament.
The incident may have left Ghana with a tainted image in international football and the subsequent report made to FIFA has generated uneasiness within the GFA.
