Ghana, recently, returned to reckoning in African football with a strong showing at the 2023 CAF Women’s Champions League, missing out on the bronze medal.
It was the first time in a long while, a Ghanaian club or any of the national teams came close to winning a medal.
Unfortunately, because the team and the league was not a male league, not much attention was given to their heroic feat.
The performance of Ampem Darkoa Ladies, did not come as a surprise to Ghanaians, following their exploits after winning Gold in the WAFU Zone B championship in Benin City.
Their performance at the CAF Women’s Championship came as a welcome relief after no Ghanaian team, has excelled in any tournament either in Africa or outside Africa in a long while.
Considering Ghana’s pedigree in not only African football, but the world, the failure to win any accolade for such a longtime was a concern to many stakeholders.
But before the disastrous outings that have become a permanent feature of Ghana football, Ghana dominated tournaments on the African continent and the world tournaments, winning the 2009 FIFA U-20 World Cup in the Cairo International Stadium, Cairo, Egypt after defeating Brazil 4-3 on Penalties when the match ended (0-0) after extra time, making Ghana the first time an African country won the FIFA U-20 World Cup Championship.
Ghana’s recent decline in international tournaments could be attributed to a number of reasons, including the lack of talents with exceptional skills and also football infrastructure with low standard pitches.
The local league has also lost its steam; It also lacks quality players, because most of the budding talents are always in a hurry to join foreign leagues, let alone talk of providing excitement.
As a newspaper, we that the performance of Ampem Darkoa Ladies, will spur other local teams, especially the male ones competing in Africa to also excel and ensure that Ghana regains it top spot not only on the African continent but the world.
We believe that this will not come easy unless the necessary structures are put in place to develop our football talents to be able to compete, match and surpass their counterparts in other countries.
The performance of Ampem Darkoa Ladies, is a pointer to the nation’s football authorities that they should focus their attention at developing football at the grassroots and catching the players young, as it used to be during the days of Colts football, rather than the recent lazy approach of poaching players groomed in foreign jurisdictions.
This newspaper congratulates Ampem Darkoa Ladies for the honour they have brought to the nation and ask them to keep up the good work. They will definitely go beyond the sky.
