Former Ghana Football Association vice-president George Afriyie says the Ghana Premier League must improve its ability to produce players ready to compete for places in the Black Stars.
Afriyie’s comments followed the withdrawal of about nine players from a recent international assignment. He questioned why Ghana’s technical team was unable to select even one replacement from the domestic league.
Speaking on Ahenfie FM, Afriyie highlighted the national side’s dependence on footballers based overseas. He said around 23 of the 24 players initially selected for the assignment were foreign-based, yet none of the vacancies created by the withdrawals was filled by a Ghana Premier League player.
“Isn’t it strange that Ghana will call players about 24 for an assignment, and 23 of them are foreign-based, and about nine are withdrawn? We couldn’t have one single player from the local league to replace them,” Afriyie said.
He said the situation raised wider concerns over the standard of domestic football and whether the league was preparing players adequately for international competition.
“Then we must rightly admit that nothing is working right,” he added.
Afriyie specifically referred to players from established Ghana Premier League clubs such as Hearts of Oak, Asante Kotoko, Bibiani Gold Stars and FC Samartex. He questioned why footballers from those teams had not been viewed as suitable alternatives for the Black Stars.
The former GFA vice-president argued that an 18-club competition played over an entire season should offer the national team a significant pool of potential players.
“Because if you have an 18-club league which comprises clubs like Hearts of Oak, Kotoko, Gold Stars, Samartex who play week in week out to get a single player to replace the nine players, then I don’t think that the foundation of our football is going well,” he said.
He added that the inability to identify one replacement from the domestic competition pointed to deeper problems within the foundations of Ghanaian football.
Afriyie also connected the issue to the development of young players and the way domestic football is administered. He called for stronger structures to identify promising talent and help those players progress towards senior international football.
He questioned whether the league could consistently develop players if opportunities were shaped by personal connections rather than sporting merit.
“If we do a friends-and-cronies league, will we develop?” he asked.
Afriyie said the Ghana Premier League needed to become more competitive, while greater investment in youth development would help widen the selection options available to the Black Stars.
He believes those improvements would give Ghana stronger domestic alternatives when foreign-based players are unavailable and reduce the national team’s reliance on players based abroad.
