Overview
The Ghana Football Association (GFA) is the governing body of association football in Ghana and it based in Accra the capital of Ghana. Founded in 1957, the Association was dissolved by the Ghanaian Minister of Sport, Isaac Kwame Asiamah, on 7th June, 2018, after the discovery of corruption in the association through investigative videos. In October 2019, a new president, Kurt Okraku, was elected as the association reconvened upon the completion of the work of the FIFA Normalization Committee. Mark Addo was later elected vice president in November 2019. Kurt Edwin Simeon-Okraku has been re-elected as President of the Ghana Football Association during their 2023 Elective Congress in Tamale in the Northern region Ghana.
History
Gold Coast Football Association
The Ghana Football Association (GFA) is the successor to the Gold Coast Football Association, which used to be the governing body for football in Ghana and was one of the oldest football associations in Africa, having been founded in 1920. The Ghana Football Association (GFA) was formerly known as the Gold Coast Football Association. The sport of football was introduced in Gold Coast by the European merchants in the late 19th century. As the game became popular, several amateur clubs were formed along the coast. Records indicate that Cape Coast and Accra were the first colonial cities in sub-Saharan Africa to host formal leagues in the Gold Coast. After a weak start in 1915, the league kicked off in 1922 with the Accra Hearts of Oak Sporting Club emerging as winners, taking the coveted Guggisberg shield – named after the progressive British governor of that period and the man who started the Accra Football League, Sir Gordon Guggisberg.
Amateur status
Football was brought to the Gold Coast near the end of the 19th century by merchants from Europe, who had by then conquered the coastal areas and built forts and castles to facilitate trade. In their leisure time, the sailors would play football among themselves and with the indigenous people.
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