Ben Koufie: Confused?

Local Coaches Still Have Chance As Koufie Eats Back Words GFA chief Ben Koufie has stated that the doors to the Black Stars coaching job have not been shut in the face of local football coaches in spite of the allegations of bribery against them.

According to him, each of them has equal chance of getting the job as their expatriate counterparts. “It is, however, incumbent upon local coaches to demonstrate a high sense of responsibility, the most appropriate attitude towards their work, efficiency and, above all, be above board,” the GFA Chairman stressed.

Mr Koufie was reacting to outbursts from various coaches that followed his infamous comment regarding corruption among local football coaches. He told the Graphic Sports prior to his departure to the United States last week that while the criticism of corruption is an open secret, it is also a fact that there are many of them who are not just efficient but can hardly be labelled among the clique of corrupt coaches.

Mr Koufie, who is in the United States for the 4th Women’s World Cup, said his remarks on the subject were in reference to the perception about just a number of them, and not the entire band of Ghanaian soccer coaches.

But even then, Mr Koufie’s defence of the statement is founded on hearsay and a 1993 report submitted to the then sports authorities by a committee of enquiry which investigated a 6-1 defeat suffered by the Black Stars at the hands of Germany in Bochum.

The committee was chaired by Mr Alex Asiedu, then Chief Executive of the National Sports Council. In its report, the committee said, among other things, that “It was alleged that bribery to influence selection into the national teams, or to be fielded for a match and other forms of corruption and favouritism and indiscipline were some of the weaknesses” of indigenous coaches, and it was the main reason that compelled the football authorities to prefer expatriates to their Ghanaian counterparts.

Besides this, Mr Koufie said when he entered the fray as chairman of the GFA, he received complaints of acts of corruption by some coaches. He said he summoned the names involved to a meeting and informed them about the perception and rumour making rounds and admonished that they made efforts to correct the impression to redeem their names.

He spoke highly of former Stars coach, Jones Attuquayefio, and said he could have been considered for the job again but for his current engagement with the Benin national team, with whom he is bound for the 2004 Nations Cup in Tunisia.

“I have spoken to him about it (the prospect of coaching the Black Stars) but the prestige of competing at the Cup of Nations is, of course, too tempting” for the 2000 Africa coach of the year”, Mr Koufie intoned.