A former member of the Black Stars Management Committee has cautioned against calls to dissolve the Ghana Football Association (GFA) following abysmal performances by the senior national team, the Black Stars
According to Ernest Thompson, a former Black Stars Management Committee member and former board secretary of Accra Hearts of Oak, the first step should be a meeting with officials to resolve the problems, as FIFA’s governance rules could create further difficulties.
He was speaking in a radio interview monitored by Graphic Online on Joy FM on Wednesday morning after the Black Stars’ 2-4 defeat to The Gambia in Accra on Tuesday.
The result has left the Black Stars without a point from their opening two Group C qualifiers for the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), following an earlier 2-0 defeat to Côte d’Ivoire in Bouaké.
Why not dissolve
Asked about calls for the GFA to be dissolved, Mr Thompson cautioned against such a move, saying FIFA’s governance rules could create further problems.
He said something needed to be done about the GFA, but the first step should be to meet its officials and help resolve the issues confronting the association.
When the host recalled the period of normalisation and asked whether Ghana should risk going down that road again, Mr Thompson said he would not agree.
He said the Sports Minister, Kofi Adams, would have to intervene, possibly with the involvement of Parliament’s Committee on Youth and Sports, so the parties could meet “indoors” and establish what was wrong.
Mr Thompson referred to earlier crisis meetings in Winneba and other occasions when people from outside football were invited to help resolve problems.
He said the GFA should be humble enough to accept that it had challenges and needed help.
Squad list
Mr Thompson said the problems went beyond the pitch. He said he has information that the Black Stars Management Committee never even met to consider the squad list for the qualifiers.
He said some committee members told him: “We don’t have anything to do with this list. We’ve washed our hands off the list.”
According to Mr Thompson, the committee would at times examine proposed squads, question the coach and involve the medical team before a final decision was made.
He said that did not happen this time, per his information from a member of the committee.
He said he sent messages on September 23, 2026, before the first qualifier, warning that something was wrong.
He described what he found as “a complete disconnect” between Black Stars management team members and some GFA members and challenged any of them to say he was lying.
Mr Thompson questioned how players could be called up and then withdraw.
He asked who issued the list and what medical checks were done before it was released.
Communication and finances
Mr Thompson also criticised the GFA’s public communication.
He said that in discussions with some officials, they did not know who would speak on behalf of the association.
He said he had also been shown a list of some of the financial challenges facing the association.
Vanderpuye’s call
Former Minister of Youth and Sports, Nii Lante Vanderpuye, who joined the programme, urged the Sports and Recreation Minister, Kofi Adams, to bring together people who had managed the GFA and the Black Stars Management Committee, including Mr Thompson and Nana Butler, to diagnose the problems.
He also cautioned against tampering with the GFA. Mr Vanderpuye said if the committee and the GFA had no working relationship, “we have a crisis”.
He said it became a problem if a committee could not question proposed players or ask about their medical records.
Black Stars head coach Carlos Queiroz has accepted responsibility for the defeat and apologised to supporters.
