Ghana Football Association

The Ghana Football Association (GFA) is the successor to the Gold Coast Football Association, which used to be the governing body for football in Ghana and was one of the oldest football associations in Africa, having been founded in 1920. Records indicate that Cape Coast and Accra were the first colonial cities in sub-Saharan Africa to host formal leagues in the Gold Coast. After a weak start in 1915, the league kicked off in 1922 with the Accra Hearts of Oak Sporting Club emerging as winners, taking the coveted Guggisberg shield – named after the progressive British governor of that period and the man who started the Accra Football League, Sir Gordon Guggisberg.

Football was brought to the Gold Coast near the end of the 19th century by merchants from Europe, who had by then conquered the coastal areas and built forts and castles to facilitate trade. In their leisure time, the sailors would play football among themselves and with the indigenous people.

The popularity of the game spread quickly along the coast, culminating in the formation of the first football club, Excelsior, in 1903 by Mr. Briton, a Jamaican-born British citizen who was the then Head Teacher of Philip Quaque Government Boys School in Cape Coast. As the popularity of the game grew, other amateur clubs were formed along the coast, including: Accra Hearts of Oak, Accra Standfast, Cape Coast Venomous Vipers, Cape Coast Mysterious Dwarfs, Sekondi Hasaacas, and Sekondi Eleven Wise.

In 1952, the Government of the Gold Coast enacted Ordinance 14, which established the Gold Coast Amateur Sports Council, and granted the Government of the Gold Coast the legal authority to control all amateur Associations, including Football.

As the popularity of the game spread throughout the country, the existing clubs met towards the end of 1930 and elected Richard Maabuo Akwei as their chairman.

Towards the middle of 1950, the clubs, spearheaded by Ohene Djan, accused Akwei of maladministration and questioned his ability to help grow Ghanaian Football. They therefore addressed petitions to the Governor of the Gold Coast, Sir Charles Arden-Clarke, and the Pioneer Sports Organizer, Joseph Ranadurai, on the maladministration of the Amateur Football Association by Akwei. While the petition was being addressed, Ohene Djan led a "Football Revolution" and succeeded in toppling the Akwei Administration in 1957.

In 1957, Ohene Djan was elected General Secretary of the Football Association by the clubs and the Ghana Amateur Football Association was officially founded. He strategically affiliated the Association with FIFA in 1958 and the CAF in 1960.[1]

Djan was instrumental in securing sponsorship for the first Ghanaian FA cup competition from a pharmaceutical firm, Merrs R.R. Harding and Company. In the same year he succeeded in securing the services of an expatriate Coach, George Ainsley, for the National Team. Then in 1959, he succeeded again in organizing the first national league, before Ghana became a republic on 1 July 1960.

Through the 1993 Winneba Declaration, Ghanaian football was able to shrug off its amateur status. The formation of professional teams allowed clubs to be incorporated under the companies code (Act 179, 1963) as Limited liability companies.

The Association was dissolved 'with immediate effect' on 7 June 2018, after undercover journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas revealed the amount of corruption in the association and Ghanaian football in general. Referees and officials of the association were filmed taking bribes.[4] The Sports Minister Isaac Kwame Asiamah referred to Kwesi Nyantakyi on Accra-based JoyFM as "former president" because all arms and affiliates of the GFA stand dissolved. The GFA is set to reopen in August 2019.

Elections were held in October 2019 and out of the six candidates who contested, Kurt Okraku emerged the winner.[7] In November 2019, the Women's League Committee was put together. The team was made up of Hilary Boateng (Chairperson), Rosalind Amoh (Vice chairperson), Nana Aba Anamoah, Cleopatra Nsia, Jerry Dogbatse, Nana Poku Fosu Geabour II and Christian Isaac Mensah.[8] In January 2020, Prosper Harrison Addo was appointed the General Secretary.[9] It was announced in early January that the technical crew of all the national teams had been disbanded. This was done with the intention of giving the sport a fresh start and enhancing the performance of the teams.[10][11] Pursuant to the disbanding, Mercy Efua Tagoe-Quarcoo and Charles Kwabla Akonnor were appointed head coaches of the Black Queens and Black Stars respectively. Mercy Tagoe-Quarcoo was assisted by Charles Anokye Frimpong and Charles Akonnor by David Duncan.[12][13] The National Teams Department was added to the outfit of GFA and Mr Alex Asante who is a Deputy General Secretary was appointed as its acting head.[14] In September 2020, the Court of Arbitration for Sport dismissed an appeal by Wilfred Kwaku Osei Palmer which, amongst others, sought to nullify the Ghana Football Association presidential elections conducted in October 2019.[15]