Ghana and African football legend Ibrahim Sunday has advised Asante Kotoko and Hearts of Oak to sign only tried and tested and exceptional talents as he discusses why the two biggest clubs in the country can no longer compete against the best teams on the continent.
North African clubs especially have become the common destinations for most of the Ghana Premier League players while Ghanaian teams consistently fail in Africa.
“Asante Kotoko is not a club that any player at all should be signed. It is not a club that as soon as a player is good in a village then he is brought to Kotoko to play. We have to see that the player is really talented and he has a future before he is taken to Kotoko or Hearts of Oak before he is called to the national team”, Ibrahim Sunday told Oyerepa FM.
“But not any player at all from any village then he is signed and fielded by Asante Kotoko or Hearts of Oak”, he added.
Sunday was a midfielder, he played the majority of his career for Ghanaian club Asante Kotoko, and was also a member of the Ghana national team, participating in two Africa Nations Cup tournaments. In 1971, he won the African Footballer of the Year award.
He is also renowned for being the first-ever African footballer to appear in the Bundesliga.
Born in Koforidua, Eastern Region, Ghana, Ibrahim Sunday started his career playing for local club Kumasi Asante Kotoko, of which he became the captain. In 1970, he and his club won the African Cup of Champions, a predecessor of the CAF Champions League, the first international title obtained by the club.
In 1975, Sunday moved to Werder Bremen in the Bundesliga, where in two seasons he barely had any playing time, appearing in only one league match against Rot-Weiß Essen on 6 June 1976. This, however, made him the first-ever African footballer to appear in the Bundesliga.
Credit: Ghana Sports Market
