The Ambassador of Italy to Ghana, Giovanni Favilli has spoken highly of Ghanaian involvement in Italian football.
According to him, one of the things Ghana and Italy have in common is their love for football, which has made teams like scouting for players in Ghana.
Speaking on the Citi Breakfast Show he said Football scouts like to scout in Ghana because Italian team look for solid and strong defenders which Ghana is abundantly blessed with
“Italy has the highest number of Ghanaians footballers outside Ghana. The thing is Ghana like Italy loves football and you [Ghana] have amazing players here, I have been told recently by football scout that Italy teams mostly look for solid and strong defenders especially and you find many of them in Ghana,” he said.
He also noted that even though there is more collaboration between Ghana and Italy through the oil and gas sector, Italy also provides financial help to the less privileged communities.
“Oil and gas is a very important sector, I will say that that is the symbol of the collaboration between Ghana and Italy but what amazes me is the sheer amount of private solidarity initiatives happening between Italy and Ghana. There is a lot of collaboration with a group of doctors with Ghanaian hospitals all over the country. There are Italy priest funded hospitals that are supporting less privilege in the communities,” he said.
The relations between Ghana and Italy go years when Italian companies were brought in for the construction of the Akosombo and the Kpone dams, as well as the Tema Oil Refinery.
In 2017, Ghana and Italy have resolved to deepen their bilateral relations, as well as explore areas of interest that will mutually benefit citizens of the two countries.