GFA President urges Parliament to reverse ban on alcohol sponsorship of sports

Ghana Football Association (GFA) President Kurt Okraku has called on Parliament to review restrictions preventing alcoholic beverage companies from sponsoring sporting activities, arguing that the policy is depriving sports organisations of substantial financial opportunities.

He believes removing the restriction would open up new sources of funding for football and other sporting disciplines, particularly at a time when international sporting competitions continue to attract lucrative sponsorship deals from major alcohol brands.

Mr Okraku made the appeal when he appeared before Parliament’s Youth and Sports Committee on Wednesday, October 4, where he cited a failed sponsorship arrangement with Guinness Ghana Limited as an example of the financial opportunities lost because of the regulations.

He disclosed that the company had expressed interest in investing heavily in the Ghana Premier League, with a proposed deal valued at more than $5 million annually.

According to him, the GFA engaged the company through several meetings, but the negotiations could not proceed after the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) declined to approve the sponsorship.

“We were approached by Guinness Ghana Limited, wanting to invest heavily in the Ghana Premier League. We did whatever we had to do. We had a series of meetings. At the end, FDA said no. The deal was, if I’m not mistaken, over $5 million a year. We lost it,” he said.

The GFA president argued that the FDA should not have the authority to determine whether alcoholic beverage companies can commit their resources to sponsoring sports.

He therefore urged the committee to champion the removal of the provision, describing it as a necessary step towards attracting greater private-sector investment into the country's sporting industry.

“Mr Chairman, if there’s one thing that you can do to help sports and football, that would be for you to lead the charge to completely take out that provision that gives the power to FDA to decide on what they can use their resources to support in respect to sports or football,” he added.