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.
The Black Stars have come under particular scrutiny following disappointing performances, including a 4-2 defeat to The Gambia in a 2027 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier and a 5-1 friendly loss to Austria. The results have intensified calls for changes within the Ghana Football Association (GFA), while poor performances across the national teams have raised wider concerns about the country’s football development system.
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.
“Why can’t you use that money to develop some coaches in Ghana so that they will become multipliers of their knowledge?”
Prof. Osei Sarpong stressed that sustainable sports development requires more than high-profile coaching appointments. He said Ghana must invest in infrastructure, training resources and long-term development programmes to build a stronger pipeline of athletes.
He described the establishment of the Grassroots Sports Secretariat as an important step towards creating a sustainable system for developing sporting talent.
The NSA boss also cited France’s National Institute of Sport, Expertise and Performance (INSEP), which he visited in September to study its athlete development model.
He said the institute trains national athletes and attracts competitors from other countries, offering lessons Ghana could adopt to strengthen its own sports development system.
