AFCON 2019: Why Ghana Is Stuck On Four Titles

Ghana’s Afcon troubles began long before its last conquest at the finals. The country made its Afcon bow in 1963, an event the west Africans hosted and won. Two years later in Tunisia, the Stars successfully defended the title, proving the previous triumph was no fluke. The new boys ruled the roost and only seemed to get better by the year. Then, in 1966, a coup d’etat struck which overthrew the government of Dr Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana’s football-obsessed leader. Real Republikans — the establishment club that inspired the Stars so — came crashing with a thud, and the national team’s momentum and fortunes tumbled, too. A dozen years would pass before Ghana were victorious once more — again as hosts.

The eighties were hard for Ghanaians, as the nation spent almost the entire period battling the uncertainties of military rule and crippling economic crisis. Somehow, the Stars reflected those struggles: another Afcon was won in the immediate months after Jerry Rawlings’ coup (thanks in no small part to policy changes the overthrow triggered, ironically), but what followed was one first-round exit and three successive absences from the tournament. It wasn’t until 1992 — the very year in which Ghana was ushered into a refreshing era of democracy and stability – that the team reached the peak of another final (albeit one that was lost). Coincidence?

The nineties saw Ghana blessed with a so-called golden generation, one fronted by globally acclaimed stars Abedi Ayew and Anthony Yeboah. Talismanic figures these were, but also sharply divisive, and tales are told of how the clash of their strong personalities — and of the factions in camp they reportedly led — limited the Stars to the sole highlight of Senegal 92’s silver medals.

Then came the noughties, when the obsession for the Nations Cup was temporarily relegated — a fifth would have been welcome, of course, but Ghana’s four-trophy haul was still unrivaled at the turn of the millennium — with an appearance at the Fifa World Cup a more pressing need. That was accomplished — twice before said decade was over, and even a third time in 2014 — but, before long, pangs of Afcon starvation returned. By then, however, the continental showpiece was a very different terrain and much harder to navigate, as Ghana has found out.

When Ghana last won the Afcon, there were only eight participating teams; today, the field is thrice as large. And with each new edition and/or expansion, the competition gets even harder to win. Only seven other teams had been crowned African champions when Ghana secured its fourth honors in 1982, and just two of those had won it more than once. Fast-forward to the present, though: Cameroon has risen from zero to five wins, Egypt has also overtaken the Stars, and even Zambia nicked a championship in 2012. It’s a bigger, tougher affair now, isn’t it?

Sammie Frimpong — Daily Mail GH