GhanaWeb Feature by Frank Kamal Acheampong
When Henry Asante Twum granted an interview on Happy FM on Thursday, August 28, 2025, his words carried the finality of a verdict:
“Where a player plays is not part of the criteria. It’s about the quality of the player and what he is bringing on board.”
It sounded like a line meant to put the debate to bed. For decades, fans and pundits have argued over whether a player’s club, be it Asante Kotoko or Chelsea, Hearts of Oak or Athletic Bilbao, influences his chances of making the Black Stars.
However, according to the Ghana Football Association’s (GFA) Communications Director, the badge doesn’t matter, only the boots does.
But Ghanaian football history whispers a different story.
When local players carried the flag
There was a time when the national team was stitched together from the pitches of Kumasi, Accra, and Sekondi. In the 1990s and early 2000s, the Ghana Premier League was a powerhouse. Hearts of Oak and Asante Kotoko battled before packed stadiums, and their best players became the heartbeat of the Black Stars.
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Names like Emmanuel Armah “Senegal”, Yaw Preko, Emmanuel Ampiah, Ablade Kumah and Sammy Adjei, football reputations were carved out at home. For much of that era, a domestic standout could be confident of wearing the national team jersey.
At Ghana’s maiden World Cup in 2006, six homegrown players made the 23-man squad. Dan Quaye, Shilla Illiasu, and Habib Mohamed were not just passengers; they were trusted to stand shoulder to shoulder with Michael Essien and Stephen Appiah on the world stage.
Illiasu, then at Asante Kotoko, even earned himself a move to Russia on the back of that tournament.
A different reality today
Fast forward to Qatar 2022, and the picture was starkly different. Only two locally-based players, Daniel Afriyie Barnieh and Danlad Ibrahim, who were then playing for Accra Hearts of Oak and Asante Kotoko respectively, were included.
Both sat on the bench throughout the tournament. The Black Stars, once sprinkled with domestic names, had become almost exclusively the preserve of Europe-based footballers.
That decline mirrors the fall of the GPL itself. Once feared across the continent, the league now struggles for quality, sponsorship, and even stadium attendance. And as its competitiveness wanes, so too does its influence on the national team.
Otto Addo has made small gestures toward restoring the balance. He’s handed call-ups to Medeama’s Kamaldeen Mumuni, Nations FC’s Razak Simpson, and Hearts of Oak’s Benjamin Asare.
Yet, in the current squad for the World Cup qualifiers, only Asare remains. The rest of the 24-man list leans heavily toward Europe, with 13 players coming from the top five leagues alone.
So, does the badge really not matter, as Asante Twum insists?
The numbers tell another story
The irony is that when you compare output, the gap between “big league stars” and “local players” isn’t always clear-cut. In the 2024/25 GPL season, six players scored 10 goals or more.
Berekum Chelsea’s Stephen Amankona led the charts with 15 before leaving the club. Even Asante Kotoko’s Kwame Opoku, with 9 goals in just 17 appearances, looked every bit a forward in form.
Yet none of them earned a look-in.
Instead, the Black Stars’ forward line is led by Antoine Semenyo, who netted 11 goals for Bournemouth. Captain Jordan Ayew scored just five as Leicester tumbled into relegation. Inaki Williams managed six at Bilbao, while Joseph Paintsil, returning after months away from the team, had a patchy campaign.
Kamaldeen Sulemana, plagued by injury, scored just once all season, but still found his way into the squad.
If, as Asante Twum claims, the GFA compares players based on what they bring to the table, then these statistics raise uncomfortable questions. Because on numbers alone, at least one or two GPL strikers could argue they’ve done enough to “bring something on board.”
A debate that refuses to die
Perhaps the truth lies somewhere in the tension between history and perception. In the past, the strength of the GPL meant local players could stand tall beside their Europe-based peers.
Today, the league’s decline has cast doubt on whether even its top scorers can match the intensity of international football.
And so, Asante Twum’s assertion feels like a shield, protecting the GFA’s decisions while ignoring the uncomfortable optics. The fact remains: most of Ghana’s current squad comes from Europe’s top five leagues, whether or not their numbers eclipse the men at home.
The debate will continue. Fans will ask why “local heroes” no longer wear the Black Stars jersey in significant numbers. Pundits will measure goals in Kumasi against goals in the Premier League. And for now, every squad announcement will rekindle the same question Asante Twum sought to silence.
FKA/JE
Meanwhile, watch the new episode of Sports Check with Ali Jarrah below:
