GFA Communication Director, Henry Asante Twum
Ghana Football Association has said they can’t sponsor any club to play in Africa
Hearts of Oak boarded 5 fights before getting to Algeria for their last match
Many have blamed the stress in flights as reason for their lose
The Ghana Football Association’s Communication Director, Henry Asante Twum has emphasized the need for corporate organizations to come to the aid of clubs because the GFA are not capable of funding clubs to play in CAF Club competitions.
The poor performance of Ghanaian clubs in away games at the continental level has been credited to the tedious travel arraignments.
However, for Henry Asante Twum it will be a huge burden for the GFA to fund clubs for African tournaments since the FA does not have the financial muscle to do so.
“Our industry needs money, our industry is not rich and not at the level where we will have the capacity to support clubs when they go to Africa and secondly come up with measures to avert some of these situations,” the GFA scribe told Joy Sports.
He added, “Let’s be blunt, [our clubs] come nowhere near the Zamalek’s, the Orlando Pirates, the Sundown’s not to talk of Al Ahly.”
Hearts of Oak who were the only side to represent the country were booted out of the CAF Confederations Cup by Algerian side JS Souara on a 4-2 aggregate score line.
The Phobians had to board 5 different flights before getting to their destination and would now make a trip home on Friday despite having played the game last Sunday.
Reacting to the news Henry Asante Twum said, “I tried to find out from Hearts of Oak why they couldn’t get a charter and they said they explored other means and it will cost $150,000 to get a flight from Accra to Algiers and that is non-negotiable.”
According to him it would take the intervention of government and other institutions to fund trips for clubs who want to play at continental level.
“Truth be told I doubt if Hearts of Oak have that financial muscle to do that, maybe government could have in to assist, maybe the FA could have also come in to assist but in the current circumstances we find ourselves we couldn’t do much,” he stated.
