The Minister of Education, Haruna Iddrisu, is making a case for Ghana to emulate the steps taken by the English FA to brand and market the Premier League.
He observed that the English FA made deliberate efforts to innovate in how they organise their football activities, making the English Premier League one of the best in the world.
Haruna Iddrisu said this when the President of the Ghana Football Association (GFA), Kurt Okraku, called on him in his office on Tuesday, October 14.
He assured the GFA president that the Mahama administration is ready to support football development by way of providing the infrastructure.
He said, “The government will support you to build the infrastructure, and the president is expanding and providing the people of the Upper East with a dedicated sports stadium. I have seen the beautiful thing you have done just by the roadside when you are entering Bolgatanga.
“We want to thank you for that and for the leadership that you are providing. What is important in Ghana is corporate sponsorship for football, and then we have to brand our football. The lesson to learn is that if, for instance, you are entering the Prime Minister’s office in the UK, what you see is ‘Football, Great Britain’, ‘ Culture Great Britain’, ‘Innovation Great Britain’, all branded.
“Look at how far their football has come, so I am sure there are lessons you can pick up, but you definitely need corporate and government support to be able to do more, that you are assured we would do.”
For his part, the FA President, Kurt Okraku told the Minister that the GFA has provided opportunities not only for the men but also for female footballers.
“Since I took office in 2019, I have made a lot of commitments to offer more opportunities to women. At the last congress of the football association, we created one political opening for women; a woman will be vice president of the FA going forward. We have offered a good number of opportunities to women in the governance structure of the FA. Now,90 per cent of the Black Queen players play abroad.”
He added, “The FA is offering them hope and giving them a livelihood and a chance to realise their dreams. So we are happy to be here, we will work to together and make sure we follow the agenda of the President of our country, who is resetting all facets of our country, including football.”
