Ghana’s amputee national team has revealed that they were neglected so much that the jerseys they wore for the 2024 African Amputee Football Cup of Nations (AAFCON) were bought from Kantamanto.
The Black Challenge won the Amputee AFCON in Egypt last month when they defeated Morocco 2-1 in the final of the tournament.
The team was, however, criticised by the Minister for Youth and Sports, Mustapha Ussif, for accepting external donations before officially meeting him to present the AFCON trophy.
This was after former president John Mahama donated $10,000 to the team, with the Sports Minister also calling for accounts to be rendered on every penny they received.
However, speaking to Accra-based Starr FM, the head coach of the Black Challenge, Stephen Richard Obeng, said the Sports Ministry didn’t provide “anything from our budget” aside from buying them flight tickets and paying for their participation fee.
In a rather embarrassing revelation, he said the jerseys the team used for the AFCON were also not provided by the Ministry, which forced them to buy from Kantamanto.
“The government sponsored us, like the Minister said, by buying our flight tickets and paying for our participation fee alone,” Obeng said.
“That was the sponsorship the Minister was talking about. That was all. We bought our jerseys from Kantamanto for the 2024 AAFCON. Our hotel bills were taken care of by the local organising committee of the tournament.
“We never received anything from our budget, the only thing we received was our participation fee, which is $8,500.”
Meanwhile, the Black Challenge have now booked their ticket to the next Amputee Football World Cup in 2026.