FEATURE: How Sly Tetteh Built A Soccer Empire For Ghana

Depending on your interpretation, it was either a good foresight or a gamble, but the decision to establish a then 2nd division club by an unsuccessful footballer but a wealthy business man is the root of Ghana's success story in football circles over the past one and half decades.

On a muggy afternoon in 1996 in Dansoman, a cool and serene suburb of Accra, a former Ghanaian footballer Ibrahim Sly Tetteh who had achieved little as a footballer whilst playing for Sekondi Hasaacas between 1980 and 1992 assembled players mainly between the ages of 15 and 19 who had excelled in the National Milo Secondary Schools Championship together with some few experienced guys to form a 2nd division club.

Tetteh named his club Liberty Professionals after his Alma mater Liberty University of Lynchburg, Virginia in the United States depicting his selflessness, and appreciation to what the school offered him during his education there.

In fact, not many people gave Sly Tetteh and his assembled players the chance to succeed in the energy-sapping and rough Ghanaian second-tier but as time went on, they showed that they are in to stay. He produced quality talents who became the mainstream actors in the various Ghanaian national teams as the team progressed to the elite league.

Ghana were coming out of the post-Abedi Pele and CK Akonnor era, the Black Stars were in tatters, an Olivier Karekezi and Jimmy Gatete led Rwanda had dashed Ghana's hopes of making it to the 2004 AFCON in Tunisia with a 1-0 win at the Amahoro Stadium in Kigali on July 6, 2003. The team needed a new lease of life ahead of the 2006 World Cup qualifiers as many of the players were on their way out.

Michael Essien, Derek Boateng, Sulley Muntari, Asamoah Gyan, Emmanuel Addoquaye Pappoe, and John Painstil took the mantle and were instrumental as Ghana qualified for the 2006 World Cup and they continued their fantastic performance in the main tournament. Gyan scored the fastest goal in that tournament, Sulley Muntari netted against Czech whilst Essien was voted the man of the match in the same game. Ghana reached the second round before being battered 3-0 by Brazil.

With the exception of Gyan, all the Liberty Professionals players in Ghana's 2006 World Cup squad had made it big with the Black Starlets in New Zealand 99 and the Under 20 in Argentina 2001.

The 2010 World Cup also saw Asamoah Gyan writing his name in the letters of gold by scoring thrice as Ghana exited in the quarterfinals whereas Kwadwo Asamoah and John Paintsil also had a remarkable tournament. Ghana equaled Cameroon and Senegal feat as the countries to reach the Mundial last eight. Four years later, Gyan surpassed Roger Milla to become Africa's top scorer in World Cup history.

In relations to player business, Tetteh was a don, he was the one who started the selling of Ghanaian players to major European clubs, he sent Peter Ofori-Quaye, Derek Boateng, Sam Johnson, Anthony Obodai to Ajax and Kofi Amponsah to Kalamata in Greece. Sulley Muntari, Asamoah Gyan, Kwadwo Asamoah, David Boateng, Rabiu Mohammed and Aziz Tetteh went to Udinese, Ibrahim Attiku to FC Stockholm in Sweden and Ibrahim Razak to Italian side Empoli.

Also, he masterminded John Paintsil and Addoquaye Pappoe's move to Israel and Felix Aboagye's Egyptian deals.

Tetteh facilitated the move of several other African players to Europe, he sent Kenya midfielder McDonald Mariga to Helsingborg IF in Sweden and later to Parma and Inter Milan in Italy. The player stayed in Ghana and played some unofficial games for Liberty before moving. Togolese star Komla Amewou was also his player.

One of Tetteh's greatest pride was the 2009 Under 20. Four of his players namely Rabiu Mohammed, Khassenu Ghandi, Daniel Agyei and Latif Salifu were part of the Ghana World Cup winning squad, the brain behind that team which was Sellas Tetteh was also from Liberty.

Now, a cursory look at the national teams, particularly the Black Stars over the past 14 years shows that about half of the players are 'materials' discovered and trained by Sly Tetteh, the likes 2010 CAF young player of the year Kwadwo Asamoah, BBC African Footballer of the year 2010 Asamoah Gyan, Sulley Muntari, John Paintsil, Kwadwo Asamoah, Derek Boateng, Rabiu Mohammed as well as the irreplaceable Michael Essien shows how Sly Tetteh has helped the Nation.

Several other players who have attained higher education and are combining it with football past through the hands of Sly Tetteh, David Opoku a product of University of California who plays in Qatar and Reuben Ayarna who attended Boston College and now plays for Kups in Finland.

In short, Alhaji Sly Tetteh built a very strong soccer empire for Ghana which culminated the country's enviable feats at the Word stage namely the 2006 World Cup, 2009 Under 20 World Cup and the 2010 World Cup.

Tetteh passed away on September 3, 2011, after he collapsed on a training field but his legacy still lives on as arguably the best football administrative brain Ghana has ever seen.