‘No automatic Black Stars spots for foreign born players’ – Fred Pappoe

Former Black Stars Management Committee Chairman, Fred Pappoe insists foreign born players are not guaranteed a spot in Ghana’s squad for the World Cup just because they switched nationality.

The GFA recently confirmed the availability of six players including attackers Inaki Williams, Ransford Yeboah Konigsdorffer and defenders Tariq Lamptey, Stephen Ambrosius and Patric Pfeiffer following the completion of their nationality switch process. Mohammed Salisu also stated his readiness to play for Ghana.

“Nationality switch means [the foreign born] players will be available to the coach for selection. No automatic place. The pool we can select our final 26 players from for the World Cup is now bigger with good players. Competition is good,” Pappoe told Accra based Asempa FM.

Reports indicate some members of Black Stars squad, who helped Ghana book a spot at the 2022 World Cup are uncomfortable with the arrival of the foreign born players because they fear losing their positions in the team after working hard during the qualifiers.

But Pappoe, a former GFA Vice President explains it’s normal for some players, who participated in the World Cup qualifiers to miss out on the final 26-man squad because Ghana used about 35 players in the qualifiers.

“We used about 35 players for World Cup qualifiers, so even if these foreign born players did not come in, some players in current squad still wouldn’t have made it to World Cup.”

“The public debates are good but I don’t like this talk of monkey dey work, baboon dey chop. It’s like they’re trying to generate sentiments against foreign born players coming. All we need is good quality and competition.”

Prior to the World Cup in November, the six new players are expected to join the Black Stars for the next Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers against Angola on September 19 and 27.