Sports
“I got one football last year,” he said. “One football.” He contrasted that with reports of elite clubs receiving hundreds of footballs through association support.
How does a grassroots football club survive an entire season with one football?
That question lies at the heart of renowned sports journalist, Godfred Akoto Boafo’s frustration with the way football resources are distributed in Ghana.
Speaking to Kafui Dey, the football administrator and journalist questioned why professional clubs continue receiving large quantities of equipment while community clubs; the true breeding grounds of talent struggle with the bare minimum.
“I got one football last year,” he said. “One football.”
He contrasted that with reports of elite clubs receiving hundreds of footballs through association support.
“I ask myself, why do you need to give a professional football club 200 footballs at the start of the year?”
Professional clubs, he argued, already have established budgets, sponsorships and structures.
“They pay salaries. They pay accommodation for players. They get boots. They get cars.”
So why should they receive the lion’s share of football equipment?
Akoto Boafo believes every available football should instead be channelled to community clubs where thousands of children are learning the game.
“The triangle is broad at the bottom,” he said. “Send all the footballs there.”
For him, grassroots football is where every national star begins. Neglecting that foundation while rewarding the elite is, in his view, a development strategy turned upside down.
His criticism is not simply about footballs. It is about priorities.
If Ghana truly wants to produce more football stars, Akoto Boafo believes the country’s biggest investments should reach those who need them most, not those who already have the resources to buy their own.
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