Former Ghana international Kwadwo Asamoah has attributed the reduced presence of home-based players in recent Black Stars squads to what he describes as a drop in the quality of the Ghana Premier League.
With discussions ongoing ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup about whether locally based players should be included in the final squad, Asamoah argues that the current situation reflects the state of domestic football rather than selection preference.
Speaking to Citi Sports, the former Juventus midfielder said the competitiveness of the local league in previous years made it easier for home-based players to break into the national team.
“Back then, playing for the Black Stars wasn’t that difficult. At that time, our local league was very competitive; looking at Kotoko, Hearts and even Liberty, AshGold, King Faisal,” Asamoah, who played at the 2010 World Cup, said.
He explained that many players from the national youth teams were already key figures in top domestic clubs, which strengthened the quality pool for the Black Stars.
“Every player at that time who was even playing for the national U17 or U20 used to be one of their starting line-up players. So, it was very competitive.”
He further suggested that a revival of the domestic game would naturally increase the number of local players feeding into the national team setup.
“Because now we are not getting most of these local players into the national team is because of the way our league system has been these days. Back then, you could get a lot of players playing before moving to Europe.
“In that aspect, if we can consider more in developing our divisions very well, we can still get most of our players from the local divisions,” he added.
Currently, Hearts of Oak goalkeeper Benjamin Asare remains the only locally based player to have featured regularly in the Black Stars setup over the past year.
