Sports and Recreation Minister Kofi Adams says the government does not have the power to dissolve the Ghana Football Association (GFA), despite growing calls for the football governing body to be disbanded.
Pressure on the GFA has intensified following the Black Stars’ poor start to their 2027 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying campaign and wider concerns about the state of football in Ghana.
Ghana are without a point after their opening two matches and face the prospect of missing out on a second successive Africa Cup of Nations tournament.
The Black Stars began their campaign with a 2-0 defeat by Ivory Coast before suffering a dramatic 4-2 loss to The Gambia at the Accra Sports Stadium, having taken a 2-0 lead in the match.
The results have prompted calls from sections of the public and football stakeholders for major changes within the GFA, including demands for the association to be dissolved.
However, Mr Adams says the government cannot simply disband the GFA because it is a legally registered entity.
“You know what the Ghana Football Association is, and you know that when a private company is registered to exist in perpetuity, you cannot go and dissolve it if it has not committed any crime,” the Buem MP told Joy FM.
He said the government has a relationship with the GFA because it provides funding for the national teams, but that this does not give it the authority to dissolve the association.
“Government has the power to do certain things because the national teams that the GFA supervises belong to the government,” he said.
“FIFA, in its statutes, has the Standard Corporate Agreement, so it creates space for the government, which spends money, to have a certain relationship with the GFA.”
Mr Adams said the government wanted to ensure that mechanisms for protecting the public interest were functioning, but maintained that the GFA could not be dissolved simply because of poor sporting results or public dissatisfaction.
“We want to ensure that the public interest committee works, but government cannot dissolve the GFA because it is a registered entity that pays taxes to the appropriate authorities,” he added.
He said the situation would be different if officials of the association were found to have committed criminal offences.
“If, however, they use their office to commit any crime and it is proven, then the necessary rules will apply,” Mr Adams said.
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The minister’s comments come as scrutiny of the GFA increases following Ghana’s difficult start to the 2027 AFCON qualifiers.
The Black Stars missed the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco after finishing bottom of their qualifying group, ending a run of more than two decades of consecutive appearances at the tournament.
Ghana will return to qualifying action in October with a double-header against Somalia, with both matches scheduled to be played at the Accra Sports Stadium.
Meanwhile, Mr Adams is due to meet the leadership of the GFA on Friday, 2 October, for a crisis meeting following the Black Stars’ poor start to the qualifiers.
