Ghana Football Association’s Head of PR and Strategy, Neil Armstrong-Mortagbe, has defended the controversial drawing of lots that led to the elimination of the Black Starlets from the ongoing 2025 U-17 Africa Cup of Nations, insisting the process followed established competition regulations.

Speaking on the matter, Armstrong-Mortagbe explained that the rules for resolving tied standings were made known to all participating nations before the start of the tournament.

According to him, Ghana and Algeria remained inseparable after all standard tiebreakers were applied, forcing organisers to resort to the drawing of lots to determine which team would progress.

“And now to the method by which the place was determined. This was known to all the participating nations before the tournament,” he said.

He stressed that once the usual tiebreaking measures failed, the regulations mandated a draw of lots as the final solution.

“We tied with Algeria, and the tie couldn’t be broken. The competition rules are that we use the drawing of lots to break that kind of tie. It becomes luck,” he explained.

Armstrong-Mortagbe added that alternatives such as a playoff or penalty shootout were impractical within the structure of the competition, especially since both teams were not playing each other at that stage.

‘You can’t mention the World Cup without me’ - Asamoah Gyan asserts

“So unfortunately that has to be luck, but we couldn’t have a shootout because the two teams are not playing at the same time. You can’t have a playoff to determine it. It’s the competition rules, and we just have to follow those rules,” he noted.

While admitting the situation may appear controversial, he maintained that tournaments must have a mechanism to separate teams when all other criteria fail.

“It might be controversial, but there’s got to be a way of separating teams. It doesn’t happen often, but it can occur at the World Cup,” he stated.

“When it comes to the FIFA World Cup, you cannot tell the story without mentioning Asamoah Gyan,” former Black Stars captain Asamoah Gyan said in an interview after his official appointment as brand ambassador for Ghana’s national teams and colts football.#ghanaweb#ghanawebtv pic.twitter.com/XnNCrfn1TD

— GhanaWeb (@TheGhanaWeb) May 21, 2026