Ghana Football Association (GFA) communication director,Henry Asante Twum,has revealed that the decison for the Black Stars to camp in South Africa ahead of the AFCON was taken by head coach Chris Hughton,following backlash from Ghanaians.
The 2024 TotalEnergies African Cup of Nations will begin from January 13 to February 11, 2024, in Ivory Coast where 24 countries will assemble to lock horns for the prestigious trophy.
The Black Stars of Ghana paired in Group B will face giants Egypt, Cape Verde, and Mozambique in the group stages of this year’s tournament. As part of preparations for the tournament, the Ghana Football Association has confirmed that the Ghana national team led by Head Coach Chris Hughton will hold camp for ten days in South Africa from Saturday, January 13 – Sunday, February 11, 2024.
Ghana will play a friendly match against Botswana in Johannesburg on Monday, January 8, 2024 before flying to Abidjan two days later for the tournament.
The Ghana Football Association is currently facing a backlash from the public on the decision to camp in South Africa when the tournament will be hosted in West Africa.
Meanwhile, Communications Director for the GFA,Henry Asante Twum,has replied to the backlash from Ghanaians,saying the decision to camp in Johannesburg was solely taken by Black Stars head coach Chris Hughton.
” I want to put on record that the decision to camp in South Africa is the sole decision of coach Chris Hughton. He made a proposal to the FA, and we approved it through the Youth and Sports Ministry.
The decision to camp in South Africa wasn’t taken by Kurt Okraku but the head coach of the team.” He said.
Below are confirmed camps of the participating African countries ahead of the 2023 AFCON next month.
• Cameroon and Gambia will go to Saudi Arabia
• Ghana will camp in South Africa.
• Algeria will camp in Togo.
• Mali built their own facility to camp in Mali.
• Angola, DR Congo, Burkina Faso, Nigeria will go to the United Arab Emirates (U.A.E)
• Guinea Bissau will camp in Mali.
• Namibia will camp in Ghana.
• Zambia will camp in Saudi Arabia.
• Egypt and Tanzania will camp in Egypt.
• Senegal will camp in Senegal.
• South Africa will camp in South Africa.
• Tunisia,Mauritania and Cape Verde will all camp in Tunisia.
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Story by:David Kwaku Dzaku | univers.ug.edu.gh
