Ghana football legend Rev. Osei Kofi has revealed that players who won the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) titles received no rewards for their achievements.
The Black Stars claimed the AFCON championships in 1963, 1965, 1978, and 1982. Osei Kofi played a pivotal role in Ghana’s victories in 1963 and 1965 and is celebrated as one of the nation's greatest footballers.
At 82 years old, Osei Kofi criticizes the state's neglect of its past heroes despite their remarkable accomplishments.
He highlighted the disparity in treatment by pointing to the Ghana squad of 2015, who each received a Jeep Grand Cherokee for finishing second in the tournament. Osei Kofi lamented that none of the past champions were even given a bicycle.
He also recalled that the AFCON-winning team of his era was promised houses by then-president Ignatius Kuti Acheampong. However, this promise was never fulfilled after Acheampong was overthrown.
"In all the four AFCONs we secured, no one received even a bicycle, yet the recent team that placed second in Equatorial Guinea were presented with Cherokee cars. Back in 1965, when we captured the cup and returned, a grand banquet was held," Osei Kofi, an Asante Kotoko legend, told Joy Sports.
"Acheampong summoned me and Sempah Asante to convey to the Black Stars players that if they secured the cup to honour Ghana and him as the Commander in Chief of the Ghana Armed Forces, at that time the Dansoman Estates were under construction, they would each receive a house, and indeed, they triumphed."
"Akuffo succeeded Acheampong and declared he had made no such promise. Do you perceive the misfortune? When a head of state commits, and the head is no longer present, does the state cease to exist as well?"
Osei Kofi, like several other past legends, remains bitter about the lack of recognition and reward for their services to the nation.
Ghana has not won any major tournament in the last two decades.