Sports and Recreation Minister Hon. Kofi Iddie Adams has challenged the Ghana Football Association (GFA) and Premier League clubs to do more to create and promote stars capable of attracting supporters back to Ghanaian stadiums.
Addressing the GFA’s 32nd Ordinary Congress on Thursday, August 20, 2026, at the Ghanaman Soccer Centre of Excellence in Prampram, the Minister raised a fundamental question ahead of the new Ghana Premier League season.
“A new Ghana Premier League season is about to start. Who exactly are we asking Ghanaians to come and watch? Who is the star? Who is the player every child is talking about? Whose jersey do young supporters want to buy? Who is the personality on the billboard?”
Kofi Adams said Ghana has talented players but is failing to deliberately turn them into household names who can drive interest in the domestic competition.
He recalled a period when players such as Charles Taylor, Don Bortey, Ishmael Addo and Stephen Oduro were major attractions in the Ghana Premier League, with supporters identifying strongly with the personalities, rivalries and heroes of the competition.
“There was a time when Charles Taylor was an attraction. Don Bortey was an attraction. Ishmael Addo was an attraction. Stephen Oduro was an attraction. Supporters knew the characters of the league. There were heroes, rivalries and personalities,” he said.
According to the Minister, the challenge is not necessarily the absence of talent but the failure to deliberately market and build the profiles of players.
“We still have talented players today, but we are failing to deliberately create stars. You cannot sell a league without selling its characters,” he stressed.
Kofi Adams urged clubs to take a more professional approach to player marketing by telling the stories of emerging talents, connecting them with supporters and building their personalities and commercial value.
He questioned whether clubs, after discovering an exciting young player, actively promote the player’s profile and connect him with supporters or simply wait for an overseas club to make an offer.
The Minister acknowledged that Ghana must continue developing and exporting players but said transfers should form part of a broader development and commercial strategy.
“Selling players is not the problem. Ghana should develop and export talent. But the process should be: identify, develop, play, market, increase value, transfer intelligently and reinvest,” he explained.
He warned that simply selling players whenever an offer arrives may sustain individual clubs in the short term but does not necessarily create strong football institutions.
Kofi Adams also linked the issue of star creation to the wider problem of declining fan engagement in the domestic league.
He said clubs must understand that supporters have many entertainment options available to them, including the English Premier League, UEFA Champions League, TikTok, streaming platforms and gaming.
As a result, Ghanaian football must give supporters compelling reasons to follow the domestic league.
The Minister challenged clubs to know their supporters better by collecting data on attendance, membership, season-ticket holders, geographical location, purchasing habits and other forms of engagement.
“If we cannot measure our audience, how do we sell that audience to sponsors?” he asked.
He further called for clubs to establish proper merchandising systems, including replica jerseys, scarves, training wear, signed products and online shops, allowing supporters in Ghana and abroad to financially connect with their clubs.
For Kofi Adams, creating stars must therefore form part of a broader strategy to rebuild the Ghana Premier League as a commercially attractive product.
His remarks come as the GFA and clubs prepare for another Premier League campaign, with the Minister insisting that the future of domestic football cannot depend solely on the quality of matches but must also involve building personalities, brands, communities and sustainable commercial value.
The Sports Minister’s challenge is clear: Ghanaian football must not only produce talented players; it must deliberately create stars that supporters can identify with, celebrate and pay to watch.
Samuel Kwame Boadu is a Ghanaian media entrepreneur and storyteller with a passion for amplifying urban voices and uncovering everyday truths. He is the Editor-in-Chief and Founder of The Accra Daily Mail, a dynamic digital platform dedicated to capturing the pulse of Ghana’s capital—its people, culture, challenges, business, sports and innovations.
