Give recognition to local coaches - Opoku-Agyeman

Kumasi, Sept. 14, GNA - The country's football controlling body, the Ghana Football Association (GFA), has been asked to have confidence in the local coaches and give them the needed recognition.

Mr Opoku-Agyeman Prempeh, Managing Director of Lakayana Company Limited, who made the call, said "Ghanaian coaches are as competent and as good as their counterparts from any part of the world".

He was speaking to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) Sports in Kumasi at the weekend.

Mr Opoku-Agyeman said "if we are really serious about seeing the growth of soccer in our nation, we should begin to focus more on bringing up our local coaches".

He was emphatic that the huge financial expenditures made on foreign coaches in the past have yielded little or no result by way of football honours.

"The country's wonderful performance at the junior world cup tournaments were not through the magic of any foreigner but our own coaches", he said, adding that, it was therefore difficult to rationalize the basis for the GFA's obsession for expatriate coaches. Mr Opoku-Agyeman described as unfortunate a statement allegedly made by the GFA chairman, Mr Ben Koufie, that Ghanaian coaches were guilty of bribe taking.

"I do not want to believe if indeed he did, I am challenging him to substantiate this disturbing allegation or withdraw it and apologize to them".