Political unity over football concerns should serve as a warning to GFA – Ibrahim Saani Daara

Former Ghana Football Association (GFA) Communications Director Ibrahim Sannie Daara says the rare agreement between Ghana's political parties over concerns about the state of football should serve as a warning to the country's football authorities.

Speaking on Asempa FM, Saani Daara pointed to criticism from both the parliamentary Minority and Majority, despite their frequent disagreements on national issues.

“The Minority in Parliament have spoken, and I also saw that the Majority in Parliament are speaking, and these two parties have never agreed on an issue, but because of the GFA, they are one. That means we have to be careful. Football people, let's watch our mouths,” he said.

Saani Daara said the concerns raised in Parliament reflected issues that had already been discussed privately by several people within Ghana's football community.

He argued that some football stakeholders had been reluctant to speak openly about the problems facing the game.

“The Minority said what football people were too scared to say, and if we're honest, it exposed what we should have been saying ourselves,” he added.

The former GFA communications director also questioned the performance of Ghana's national youth teams and their ability to produce players capable of progressing to the senior national side.

He said he had spoken to several people within the football community who were concerned about the performances of the youth teams and the limited number of players progressing from those teams into the Black Stars.

“I spoke to a lot of football people, and they kept questioning why the national youth teams aren't performing to the point that they are not called up to the senior national team.”

Saani Daara called for greater honesty among football stakeholders when assessing the state of Ghana's national teams and the country's player-development system.

“And if we don't agree with this assertion, then we are not being honest with ourselves,” he said.

His comments come at a time of growing scrutiny of Ghana's football administration following the Black Stars' difficult start to their 2027 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying campaign.

The Black Stars lost 2-0 to Ivory Coast in their opening Group C qualifier before facing Gambia in Accra, increasing pressure on the team to improve its position in the group.

Meanwhile, Sports and Recreation Minister Kofi Adams is expected to hold a crisis meeting with the GFA leadership to discuss the state of football in the country and the Black Stars' start to the AFCON qualifiers.