FC AshantiGold CEO calls for separate Black Stars team for home-based players

FC AshantiGold CEO, Edward Akuoko, has backed the inclusion of locally-based players in the Black Stars urging Ghana to develop a pool of home-based talents capable of stepping in whenever key players of the national team are unavailable.

Mr. Akuoko believes Ghana must establish a deliberate system to identify, develop and integrate players from the domestic league into the senior national team to ensure continuity and consistency.

Speaking to Luv FM, he said: “We can have a local Black Stars team, and then we can have the foreign base as well, and then we can always blend them so that whenever the foreign ones are not available, the local ones can step in.

"I think that history has it that we've done this before and it worked for Ghana. A time came when we had a local Black stars that was playing so well to the point that there were times that even the local black stars were even playing much better than even the foreign ones.”

According to him, building a reliable pool of locally based players would provide the Black Stars with quality alternatives whenever first-choice players are unavailable due to injuries, suspension other circumstances.

“One thing is that when you use the local black stars, first of all, you are able to build cohesion because they are always available at your best and core.

“These foreign players sometimes, through no fault of theirs, are not consistent. And we all know that football, to a large extent, is about consistency. I mean, when players are able to play together, train together.

"The the the cohesion comes and they're able to play well. And so if we're having challenges, I think that it's not a bad idea,” he added.