Ghanaian youth coach based in Sweden, Jeff Ofori has played down the claims made by the President of the Ghana Football Association, Kurt Okraku, regarding his commitment to the development of colts football in Ghana.
In response to Okraku’s speech at the 29th Ordinary Congress of the Ghana Football Association, Jeff Ofori dismissed the promises made by Okraku to make significant investments in colts football.
In an interview, Ofori revealed how Ghana Football missed out on a substantial investment opportunity from a Swedish company due to the deliberate actions of individuals within the association.
Ofori explained that he had been working for more than five years to secure funding from a company called SupercoachApp for grassroots football development.
He explained that the company and officials of the FA held a series of meetings but after a meeting with Kurt Okraku and other FA officials in February 2022, the FA’s countenance with respect to the deal changed completely.
“The FA are not interested in developing grassroots football. What Kurt Okraku said at the congress is mere politics and nothing else. I’m saying this because I have made efforts to secure funding from Swedish company to invest in our grassroots football.
He explained that Supercoach is a multinational football development organization that seeks to drive the progress of football through modern technology.
In his lamentations, coach Ofori said that had the FA opened it doors Supercoach, Ghanaian juvenile clubs and coaches would have been exposed to technological facilities and innovations that would have aided in their work and ensure development of grassroots football.
“It took me five years to work on this deal and after the people finally agreed to come to Ghana, the FA people collapsed the deal.
They came here and we held meetings with the technical director and Kurt Okraku as well but the FA have been playing hardball since.
“I have lost the trust of the company because they feel I let them. They were really interested in helping develop grassroots football. They had budget of over $50,000 that they wanted to pump into our football but Kurt and his people were not interested.”
Coach Ofori believes that the turning point that triggered the collapse of the deal was when the Swedish firm disclosed that the amount involved was not going to be handed to the FA but rather, the company will work with the FA to ensure that the monies are spent judiciously and accounted for.
“They started dragging their feet when they realize that the money was not going to come to them directly. The company wanted to be deeply involved in the execution of the partnership so the FA people decided to pull back”, he said.
His comments come on the back of Kurt Okraku’s promise to support all 48 division one league clubs with GH₵80,000.
Speaking at the 29th Ordinary Congress of the Ghana Football Association, held at KNUST Great Hall in Kumasi on Monday, July 10, Kurt Okraku opines that, amid the many challenges confronting Ghana football, the association is doing its bid to ignite passion and create wealth for all.
According to Kurt Okraku, “Division One clubs will each now receive GHC 80,000 next season as incentives”, he said.