Mahama wants Ghanaian football talents retained longer to revive premier league
President John Dramani Mahama has urged stakeholders in Ghanaian football to find ways of retaining promising local players in the domestic league for longer, warning that the early departure of talented footballers is weakening the quality of the Ghana Premier League.
The President said Ghana was losing some of its best emerging talents to foreign clubs shortly after they began attracting attention from scouts, particularly those from Europe.
He made the remarks on Tuesday, September 8, 2026, when Nations FC and Medeama SC paid a courtesy call on him at the Jubilee House following their qualification for CAF inter-club competitions.
“We are too quick to sell our players. As soon as a player begins to show promise, scouts take him away, mostly to Europe, and that depletes the quality of our local league,” Mahama said.
He argued that keeping talented players in Ghana for a longer period would allow them to develop further, gain valuable experience with the national team and mature before making the transition to foreign leagues.
Refereeing Concerns
President Mahama also expressed concern about the standard of refereeing in Ghana, identifying officiating as another major challenge undermining the development and competitiveness of the country’s football.
He called on the Ghana Referees Association and the Ghana Football Association (GFA) to collaborate to improve officiating and rebuild public confidence in the integrity of domestic matches.
“Unfortunately, refereeing is one of the things destroying our football,” he said.
According to the President, perceptions that some match results are predetermined have contributed to falling attendance at football stadiums, with some supporters becoming increasingly sceptical about the fairness of matches.
He stressed the need for every game to be officiated fairly to ensure that victories are determined by performance on the pitch.
President Mahama said addressing concerns over refereeing while retaining talented players in the domestic league for longer would help raise the standard of the Ghana Premier League, attract supporters back to the stadiums and restore confidence in Ghanaian football.