Testifying before Parliament’s sports committee, Ghana Football Association president Kurt Okraku said the Black Stars, the Black Queens and eighteen other national teams have only one bus, bought in 2008 and now out of action.
On Wednesday 4 November 2026, Kurt Okraku, president of the Ghana Football Association (GFA), appeared before Parliament’s sports committee. According to eGotickets, the official set out the material resources available to Ghana’s national teams.
The situation can be summed up in a few sentences: “Your Black Stars, your Black Queens and the 18 other national teams we have share a single bus acquired in 2008. 20 national teams use one bus. Right now, the bus is broken down. During the last international window, the federation had to hire a bus. If we want to build a strong ecosystem around football, these are fundamentals,” he said, according to Africa Top Sports.
Import duties, VAT and a lost sponsorship
Okraku also raised the burden of certain costs weighing on the federation: import duties on national team shirts and 17.5% VAT on stadium tickets, according to eGotickets.
He further claims the GFA lost a sponsorship contract with Guinness Ghana worth more than $5 million a year, after the Food and Drugs Authority refused it.
A record with no trophy for 44 years
The Black Stars have not won the AFCON for 44 years and have lost three finals in that time, according to GhanaWebbers. The official said: “The Black Stars have not won the AFCON in 44 years. That is a fact. In 44 years, we have had different generations of super talents, and in 44 years, we have played the big final three times.”
Asked about the causes of those failures, Okraku declined to go into detail on camera and offered to discuss them privately with Parliament.
On another subject, he denied any GFA influence over player selection: “The GFA does not select players,” according to GBC Ghana.
The Black Stars face Somalia
The next fixture is a double header against Somalia, for matchdays 3 and 4 of the 2027 AFCON qualifiers, at Essipong Stadium, GhanaWeb reports.
According to the same site, Ghana lost its first two matches of those qualifiers, 2-0 to Ivory Coast in Bouaké and 4-2 to Gambia.