Acting Director-General of the National Sports Authority (NSA), Prof. Emmanuel Osei Sarpong, says appointing top coaches alone will not solve Ghana’s sports challenges without long-term planning, proper infrastructure and sustained athlete development.
His comments come amid a difficult period for Ghanaian football, with both the men’s and women’s national teams struggling with poor results, questions about their tactical direction and concerns over administration.
Prof. Osei Sarpong believes Ghana’s sporting challenges go beyond coaching appointments, blaming poor long-term planning and a lack of coordination among key sporting institutions.
“Our problem with Ghana sports, not football alone, has been long-term planning, long-term development of athletes,” he said.
He called for closer collaboration between the NSA, Ghana Olympic Committee (GOC) and sports federations to establish a structured system for identifying and developing young talent.
He questioned whether Ghana had clear plans to nurture promising athletes, stressing that talent identification must be backed by consistent investment and structured training.
He proposed identifying promising athletes at age 12 and developing them over six years to prepare them for elite competition by age 18.
The NSA boss also criticised Ghana’s reliance on foreign expertise, particularly in football, arguing that money spent recruiting foreign professionals could instead be used to train local coaches and specialists.
“As we speak now, there is no Ghanaian who is qualified as a fitness trainer, strength and conditioning coach, specifically for football,” he said.
Credit: citisportsonline.com
