Former President, John Dramani Mahama has charged Ghanaians to depoliticise the Black Stars ahead of the upcoming 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
The Black Stars are paired in Group H alongside Portugal, South Korea and Uruguay.
Ghana will begin the campaign against Portugal on Thursday, November 24 before taking on South Korea and Uruguay in the other Group matches.
President Mahama contributed immensely to our qualification to the 2014 World Cup in Brazil where Ghana exited at the Group stage.
“I urge that all Ghanaians should rally behind the Black Stars. The Black Stars in the past was what united us and any time the stars were playing, there was no political affiliation or ethnic orientation as we all supported them,” former President Mahama said as quoted by ghanafa.org.
“Recently, it doesn’t seem to be the same and I urge that we put all political considerations aside and know that, that is our best national team and for the boys to have the kind of encouragement to give their best on the world stage.”
“They need the support of the whole nation, simply put, we must depoliticize the Black stars. If the stars win, it’s not credit to one political party or the other, but to all Ghanaians.”
He added, “It doesn’t matter under which administration it wins the cup or not, we must know that the boys are from all over the country who are not even political. Let’s all support them because any-time they are going to play, I play my part by tweeting and sending them words of encouragement and I am their number one fan.”
“Sometimes I get heartache but now that I am a senior citizen, I have to take it slow. Our team had a good second half against Brazil and normally with our team, it is with settling in and settling down. When we go to a tournament, it takes time for us to settle and play our real soccer.”
Black Stars will play Switzerland in an International friendly on November 17, before travelling to Qatar for the World Cup.
