Ghana needs a long-term plan to rebuild football; not appointing coaches - NSA boss

The Acting Director-General of the National Sports Authority (NSA), Prof. Emmanuel Osei Sarpong, says appointing high-profile coaches alone will not resolve Ghana’s sporting challenges without long-term planning, adequate infrastructure and sustained investment in athlete development.

His comments come amid concerns Dexsport over Ghana’s sporting performance, particularly football, where the men’s and women’s national teams have faced disappointing results, questions over their tactical direction and broader concerns about administration and player development.

The Black Stars, who are racing to qualify for the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) tournament after missing out in the last edition in Morocco, have endured a horrible start to their qualifying campaign. 

After two games, Ghana, who are four-time African champions, sit at the bottom of Group C with no points after two games. 

The Black Stars opened their campaign with a 2-0 loss against Ivory Coast in Bouake before surrendering a 2-0 lead to lose 4-2 at the Accra Sports Stadium. 

The results have intensified calls for changes within the Ghana Football Association (GFA) and renewed debate about the country’s football development system.

The disappointing start has also led to the resignation of head coach Carlos Queiroz. With four games remaining, the GFA and the Ministry of Sports and Recreation instituted a five-member committee to recommend a new head coach. 

With back-to-back games against Somalia coming up next in November, the committee has recommended an interim technical team for the games. 

Black Queens coach Kim Lars Björkegren will lead the interim technical team with assistance from Medeama coach Ibrahim Tanko and Godwin Attram, while former Ghana international, Fatawu Dauda, will serve as the goalkeepers' trainer. 

Speaking to Citi Sports, Prof. Osei Sarpong believes Ghana’s sporting challenges extend beyond coaching appointments, pointing instead to inadequate long-term planning, weak coordination among key institutions and insufficient investment in developing athletes.

“Our problem with Ghana sports, not football alone, has been long-term planning, long-term development of athletes,” he said.

He called for closer collaboration among the NSA, the Ghana Olympic Committee (GOC) and sports federations to establish a structured system for identifying and nurturing young talent.

He questioned whether Ghana had clear, sustained plans to develop promising athletes, stressing that talent identification must be supported by consistent investment, structured training and access to the necessary facilities.

Prof. Osei Sarpong proposed identifying talented athletes at age 12 and developing them through a six-year programme to prepare them for elite competition by age 18.

He also challenged Ghana’s reliance on foreign expertise, particularly in football, arguing that resources spent recruiting foreign professionals could instead be invested in training local coaches and sports specialists.

“As we speak now, there is no Ghanaian who is qualified as a fitness trainer, strength and conditioning coach, specifically for football,” he said.

“Why can’t you use that money to develop some coaches in Ghana so that they will become multipliers of their knowledge?”

The NSA boss stressed that sustainable sports development required more than high-profile coaching appointments, calling for investment in infrastructure, training resources and long-term development programmes to establish a stronger pipeline of athletes.

He described the establishment of the Grassroots Sports Secretariat as an important step towards building a sustainable framework for identifying and developing sporting talent.

Prof. Osei Sarpong also cited France’s National Institute of Sport, Expertise and Performance (INSEP), which he visited in September to study its athlete development model.

He said the institute trains national athletes and attracts competitors from other countries, offering lessons Ghana could adapt to strengthen its own sports development system

Prof. Emmanuel Osei Sarpong recently replaced Yaw Ampofo Ankrah as the Acting Director General of the National Sports Authority (NSA). 

Ampofo Ankrah was suspended by President John Mahama after he was allegedly accused of pocketing over US$600,000 that was collected from prospective travellers to the 2026 World Cup in North America, with some individual applicants paying up to US$8,000.