Avram Grant acquires Polish passport

Ghana coach Avram Grant has acquired a Polish passport to boost his mobility in-charge of the Black Stars, GHANASoccernet.com can exclusively reveal.

There were fears that his initial Israeli passport could cause him problems when travelling to Arab countries.

This is a huge boost for Ghana ahead of the 2018 FIFA World Cup draw next week. Grant adopted the Polish nationality of his family who was forced to flee Nazi occupation in 1939.

He received a Polish passport during a private ceremony at the country's embassy in London on Monday.

Accepting the passport, Grant said: "It is a very important and emotional day. Feeling Polish comes naturally to me. My father, Meir, was a Polish citizen. He was born in Mlawa, near Warsaw, like my grandfather Avraham, great-grandfather Herschel, and the generations before them."

Grant's family was deported to Siberia, where his father lost both his parents and five siblings.

Currently, manager of Ghana's national team, Mr Grant said receiving the citizenship was part of a long endeavour to discover his family's past.

He said: "I am in Poland at least four to five times a year. Since visiting for the first time in 1988, I made the journey more than 100 times."