The President of the Ghana Handball Association, Edward Nii Lante Bannerman, has called on the government and corporate Ghana to increase investment in handball and other sports that receive limited financial support.
Bannerman made the appeal at the unveiling of the national team for the Ghana Minifootball Association, where he also expressed his appreciation to the Director-General of the National Sports Authority (NSA) for helping secure a kitting sponsorship for Ghana’s female national handball team.
The support was arranged after the NSA Director-General saw the team training at the handball courts and learned that the players were preparing for the inaugural IHF Nations Trophy 2026 in Ouagadougou.
Bannerman described the sponsorship as a welcome intervention, despite it being limited to equipment and playing kits.
“For the first time, the DG itself has come on and brought us a sponsorship deal not much to say, but a kitting deal. For us, it’s a very good one,” he stated.
The Ghana Handball Association president said the national team had competed in about eight tournaments during the past four years. Despite a lack of sufficient backing, the team had managed to win gold, silver and bronze medals during that period.
He believes those results demonstrate that handball could achieve even greater success if it receives more consistent financial and institutional support.
Bannerman argued that the sport has the capacity to produce more medals for Ghana than football, provided it is given the opportunity to develop.
“I’ve always said that handball has the potential of doing better than what football is doing for us because, given the chance, we can bring more medals than football is doing,” he added.
His comments come as he sought greater national attention for sporting disciplines that attract less funding than football. He urged both the government and businesses in Ghana to invest more heavily in those sports, with handball among the disciplines he believes could deliver stronger results.
The request for increased support was made alongside the recognition of the NSA’s role in assisting the female national handball team ahead of its preparation for the IHF Nations Trophy 2026.
Bannerman’s appeal focused on the wider need for a more balanced approach to sports investment in Ghana. While acknowledging the importance of the backing already received, he said more resources would be necessary for handball and other less-financed disciplines to fulfil their potential.
The national team’s record of medals across around eight tournaments in four years was presented as evidence that the sport has already achieved success despite operating with limited support. According to Bannerman, further investment could allow handball to contribute even more medals to Ghana’s international sporting record.
