Mass player exodus from the Ghana Premier League will not stop – Neil Armstrong-Mortagbe

Published on: 24 July 2024

The Head of PR and Strategy at the Ghana Football Association, Neil Armstrong-Mortagbe, believes the mass exodus of players from the Ghana Premier League at the end of every season would not stop.

He called on clubs to come to the realization that the Ghana league is a selling league and the best players would continue to head abroad at the end of every season.

This has become a norm over the years and this year was not an exception. The best players have headed to Rwanda, Tanzania and other countries in North Africa.

“Running a football club in this country, if you look at the budgets of some of these clubs, it goes into millions of cedis. So the concept that our president has is, how you empower them to make their money?” he said at the 2024 Afro Sports Summit.

“And so, for example, you have clubs that have got players of average age 24, 25, 26. Where are they going to sell these players to?

“We need to understand that this country is a selling country when it comes to football. What do I mean by selling country? We produce players to sell.

“I'm saying it bluntly because that is the reality. Those of us in the industry must come to the realization that we are a selling country. What products will you sell that will make you the kind of money you need to run your clubs?

“You sell players of age 18, 19, 20. How do we market these ones when they are that young to promote the league whilst they are here?”