The Member of Parliament for South Dayi constituency, Rockson-Nelson Dafeamekpor has disclosed how the Ghana national football team was nicknamed Black Stars.
Prior to Ghana attaining independence in 1957, Black Stars played as the Gold Coast.
The national team, which was formed in 1950s was nicknamed the Black Stars after the Black Star of Africa in the flag of Ghana, however, Dafeamekpor has narrated how a club in Peki in the Volta Region inspired the nickname of senior national team of Ghana.
“The name Black Stars was adopted from a football team which was located in Peki. Nkrumah had gone there to visit his friend in the 50s,” Dafeamekpor said on TV3.
"When Nkrumah got to Peki, they had Peki Black Stars. It was a team in Avetime so he adopted the name.
The MP added, "There are historical accounts, the name of the football club. It’s a known fact in Peki. It appears that we haven’t made the effort to amplify it enough that the Black Stars Nkrumah adopted it from Peki Black Stars."
"So any time he visited, they played community games. Nkrumah visited him [one time] and the name was very fascinating, Peki Black Stars, so he took it and adopted it for the Black Stars."
Black Stars have won the Africa Cup of Nations four times (in 1963, 1965, 1978, and 1982) and has been runner-up five times (in 1968, 1970, 1992, 2010, and 2015).
At the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, they became only the third African team to reach the World Cup quarter-finals, and in 2014 they competed in their third consecutive World Cup.