Ghana’s Football Association, the governing body of soccer for the country, was dissolved by the Ghanian government on Thursday in the wake of allegations of corruption and bribery.
Ghana dissolves its soccer association after BBC documentary shows ‘widespread fraud, corruption’
According to the BBC, the documentary shows Ghana FA president taking $65,000 from an undercover reporter.
Photo by Jim Rogash/Getty Images
The news was made public in a release from Ghana’s Ministry of Information.
The announcement seems to stem from revelations made in a BBC documentary titled “Betraying the Game,” which is being released Thursday, that documents dozens of major African footballing officials taking bribes before and around matches. Based on verbiage released before the documentary, much of the investigation seems to be focused on Ghanaian football, and the Ghanaian president’s statement certainly seems to be in line with the documentary’s findings.
According to the BBC, the documentary shows Ghana FA president Kwesi Nyantakyi taking $65,000 from an undercover reporter who was posing as someone interested in investing in the program. Nyantakyi has not yet commented on the charges.
Football Associations being dissolved has always been a tricky thing in the history of FIFA, who prefer that local governments stay out of the sport’s business as much as possible. That said, if recent history is any indication, FIFA could suspend Ghanaian Football’s activities until a fuller investigation can be made. When the Nigerian FA was dissolved six years ago by a Nigerian federal court, FIFA temporarily suspended then ultimately reinstated the FA without too many major changes.
Ghana failed to qualify for this summer’s World Cup, finishing a distant third in their CAF qualifying group behind Egypt and Uganda. Ghana is playing Iceland in a friendly match as of this writing, though a possible friendly against Argentina in the coming days may be scrapped.
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