SALARY SHOCK: Why Ghana’s Clubs Can’t Compete With Africa’s Richest Teams

Why do Ghana’s biggest football clubs struggle to compete on the African continent?

For veteran sports journalist Godfred Akoto Boafo, the answer is painfully simple: money.

Speaking on Kafui Dey’s podcast , Akoto Boafo dismantled the romantic belief that history and passionate supporters are enough to build a successful football club. In today’s African football, he argued, financial muscle determines success.

“When people ask what Asante Kotoko need to do to return to their glory days, I always say they have to behave like every big club does,” he said.

That, according to him, starts with investment.

He believes clubs like Kotoko can no longer rely on reputation while competing against clubs operating on budgets several times larger.

“They need their biggest investor to show he’s a big investor,” he remarked, insisting that sentiment alone cannot win continental trophies.

The biggest challenge, he explained, is attracting and keeping quality players.

A talented Ghana Premier League player doesn’t necessarily dream of Europe anymore. Increasingly, East and Southern African clubs offer salaries and signing bonuses that Ghanaian clubs simply cannot match.

“You can’t recruit at the highest level if you can’t pay at the highest level,” his argument suggested.

For Akoto Boafo, the conversation isn’t about coaching alone. It’s about economics.

No matter how gifted a coach may be, he says, success becomes difficult when the players available are limited by financial constraints.

Until Ghanaian clubs begin investing significantly more in their squads, the dream of consistently competing with Africa’s elite may remain exactly that—a dream.