Lack of transitional plan reason behind Black Stars' poor performance - Agyemang-Badu

Former Ghana international, Emmanuel Agyemang Badu has attributed Black Stars and other national teams' recent challenges to the lack of a transitional plan.

The Black Stars in the last three major tournaments have been poor and have exited at the group phase and for the first time in two decades, the four-time African champions failed to qualify for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) tournament.

Aside from the senior national team's challenges, the Black Starlets and the Black Galaxies as well as the Black Meteors have all experienced a sharp decline.

Agyemang Badu, who was part of a successful Black Satellites team that got promoted to the Black Stars, believes the lack of proper transition has been an underlying challenge.

"If you recall back our time, Sellas Tetteh went with Sadiq Adams, Ransford Osei, and all those guys. They came and prompted five of them. They met me, Samuel Inkoom and Others. Then we took the U20 to the World Cup and won it. When we came back, they selected seven of us for the 2010 AFCON," the U-20 World Cup winner told TV3.

“When we reached the finals, we were beaten by Egypt. The big names were gradually going out and we took control of the national team.

"From there, the U20 have not been doing well. The U17 have not been doing well so you’re not getting the transition like our time."

The current Black Stars squad has only Jerry Afriyie, a member of the Black Satellites squad that qualified Ghana for the next edition of the U-20 World Cup.