President Akufo-Addo launching the campaign yesterday
President Akufo-Addo has launched a campaign to raise an amount of $15million in support of the senior national football team, the Black Stars.
This is to help their campaigns in the upcoming African Cup of Nations (AFCON) 2022 tournament and at least reach semi-finals of the World Cup.
At the launch of the fundraising at the Jubilee House (presidency) yesterday, he said the national team would require not less than $25 million for the two campaigns and as a sign of its commitment, government was providing $10million of the said amount.
He has therefore urged corporate institutions and spirited individuals to help raise the amount to aid the campaign.
“Bringing back smiles on the faces of our people are priceless as the ripple effect will be felt in all aspects of our lives and of our respective organisations. So I am asking all of you to contribute to raising the balance of this amount which is $15 million,” was how he put it.
An ardent soccer fan himself, the President described the Black Stars as an integral part of the legend of Ghana and that two of the four continental titles of the team were won six and eight years respectively after the country’s independence.
Such, he said, was the luster of the Black Stars.
He recalled with nostalgic memory how as an 18-year-old in the 1960s he witnessed how Ohene Gyan persuaded European team Real Madrid to play the Black Stars at the Accra Sports Stadium where the Black Stars managed a very respectable draw against what he described as ‘mightiest of European club teams.’
Unfortunately however, he said the last time the Black Stars brought a cup home was in 1982, 40 years ago next year when the team would engage in the continental game in Cameroon, which the Black Stars had qualified in grand style for the tournament.
He, therefore, noted that the target is to bring the cup home next year by winning AFCON 2022 because the team had to go a step further than the second places recorded in 1992, 2010 and 2015 and bring the 40-year drought to an end.
“We must also reach at least the semi-finals of the World Cup in Qatar, our exploits in South Africa in 2010 where we reached the quarter finals of the World Cup tell us that once properly prepared we have a quality and the talent to match any of the best teams in the world. The task might appear daunting but it is certainly not insurmountable,” he said.
The fundraising campaign is being led by the Minister of Youth and Sports, Mustapha Yussif; the Deputy Minister designate for Youth and Sports, Evans Opoku Bobbie, the President of the GFA, Kurt Okraku, and former Black Stars defender, Samuel Osei Kufuor, representing the coach of the Black Stars.
By Charles Takyi-Boadu, Presidential Correspondent