ACCRA, May 24, 2020 – Ghana’s football clubs are at crisis point because of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Football activities in the country have suspended since mid-March and this has taken a financial toll on football clubs, especially with the fate of the country’s domestic football season in limbo.
The virtual forum which was held on 21st May 2020 via Zoom, assembled key decision makers in the sports industry as they shared insights on COVID-19’s effects on football clubs and the way forward. Key industry players like former Vice President of the Ghana Football Association and Founder of Planners Athletic Club, George Afriyie, former Ghana Football Association presidential candidate and owner of Phar Rangers FC, Nana Yaw Amponsah, President of Tema Youth FC, Wilfred Osei Kwaku Palmer, Mr. George Amoako, Chief Executive Officer of Asante Kotoko, Mr. Frederick Moore, Managing Director of Hearts Of Oak and Madam Hilary Boateng, Chairperson of the Ghana Women’s League Committee were present to discuss the issues and propose practical solutions to these issues.
Chief Executive Officer of Asante Kotoko Football Club, Mr. George Amoako, disclosed that in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, the football club has been in a dire financial situation because corporate bodies have withdrawn their support. “Corporate bodies have stopped paying monies because they are not getting the mileage they expect when the football season is on,” he noted.
He shared that for Asante Kotoko, game proceeds are a major source of income, which is then complimented by corporate bodies who augment their monthly revenues. However, with the halt of all sporting activities, the local team is currently down on their major source of income and since they are not generating any money, the corporate bodies have nothing to augment.
Hearts of Oak Managing Director, Frederick Moore, has disclosed that no Ghanaian club can survive on gate proceeds for its administration.
Hearts of Oak are among clubs in the country that generate a lot of revenue from gate proceeds during match days especially when they face their arch-rivals Asante Kotoko in any competition.
Despite the huge revenues generated, Federick Moore says clubs cannot depend on just revenues on match days to run the club. “No football club can survive just with gate proceeds but also need support from government and corporate Ghana.”
He also revealed that most of the club’s sponsorships and partnerships have been suspended. “In terms of revenue, Hearts of Oak has lost about two-thirds or more of its revenue.”
Founder of Phar Rangers FC, Nana Yaw Amponsah, encouraged the sports industry to take advantage of the COVID-19 situation to change the negatives to positives. In relation to this, he called on the Ghana Football Association to improve the pitches before the league resumes. “If we are not careful, we will be complaining about COVID-19 and it will be business as usual,” he stated.
According to Nana Yaw Amponsah, with most countries across Europe targeting a restart of their leagues in September, Ghana
should also try to emulate that to synchronize the Ghana Football season with that of the European calender.
“If we want to synchronise our league with that of Europe, then we must wait and start in September. At the moment the Accra Sports Stadium pitch will not be ready for football for the next one month,” he said.
“Let’s give ourselves up to September to start a new league so clubs can start to prepare and meet the club licensing requirements,” he added.
He also mentioned that starting the league in September will also help Ghanaian clubs in the transfer market.
Madam Hilary Boateng, Chairperson of the Ghana Women’s League Committee, made it known that the women’s clubs have been adversely affected by the coronavirus pandemic.
“The COVID-19 has had adverse effects on the Premier League and Division One League for the women. It has affected the club administrators and managers severely. Some players stayed over at the various club houses during the lockdown and their welfare was catered for by the clubs,” she disclosed.
“These players are not paid much but the club owners continue to pay their salaries and this is really tough for the bankrollers.” She also advised the players to be focused and continue to train as the league is on break due to the Covid-19.
Mr. George Afriyie, Founder of Planners Athletic Club and former GFA presidential candidate, on his part, believes that the coronavirus pandemic presented us with the opportunity to amend some statutes of the Football Association. “Prior to the elections, there were a lot of things that went wrong under the Normalization Committee in the new statutes which has to be corrected. The Covid-19 has offered us a good opportunity to make things better,” he hinted. “So we start the league on a good note. Most of our pitches that we play on doesn’t even meet the club licensing requirements,” he added. George Afriyie also suggested that the decision to truncate the season should be decided by the Congress and not only the Executive Council. “The matter to truncate the 2019/20 football season is a matter for Congress.” Founder of Tema Youth FC, Wilfred Osei Kwaku Palmer, has revealed that his team has had a bit of challenges but they haven’t been exposed entirely as a result of the COVID-19.
“My team has not been entirely exposed by COVID-19 in terms of foreign partners and supports. I’m not saying we are OK, technically we have challenges.”
“When I’m financially down, my team is also down because they have always seen me as Palmer the Bankroller; but the situation now is a bit different. There will be no way we will be back to where we left off after this pandemic. As we speak, clubs are owing players’ salaries because the revenues from gate proceeds that some use to pay players are no more.” he added.
According to him, clubs in the country are really suffering hence the need for the government to come to their aid.
“The Anas Number 12 exposé led to the unemployment of our players. There was a period where club owners really suffered because their business cycle came to a halt completely. And if you look at the football industry directly, we have given employment opportunities to a minimum of 5000 people across the country; as
for indirect employment, only God knows the numbers. So it wasn’t easy for stakeholders for two years without football.”
The forum was seamlessly moderated by Happy FM’s Ohene Bampoe Brenya and Benjamin Willie Graham of GTV and carried live on Happy FM, e.TV Ghana, Ghana Television (GTV) Sports Live as well as Global Media Alliance Broadcasting Company platforms and social media
