Zito: Football in Ghana still strong

by Staff Reporter

Wednesday Apr 03, 2024. 11:00

Dreams FC head coach Abdul-Karim Zito has dismissed suggestions that football in Ghana is a dead product, citing their continental exploits as evidence to the contrary.

Ghanaian clubs have struggled to make an impact on the African stage in recent times, with former champions Asante Kotoko and Hearts of Oak not even qualifying for the group stages of either CAF competition in the last five years.

However, Still Believe and Medeama have put the West Africans back on the map following their performances in the CAF Confederation Cup and Champions League respectively.

The Mauve and Yellow failed to progress to the knockout stages of Africa’s elite club competition, although they did manage some surprise results, including a 2-1 win over CR Belouizdad and a 1-1 draw with Young Africans.

Zito’s side have impressed on their debut in the CAF Confederation Cup, advancing to the quarter-finals as Group C winners and beating Stade Malien 2-1 in the first leg to put one foot in the semi-finals.

The Greater Accra outfit became the first Ghanaian team to win a knockout game away from home in 20 years and Zito is convinced that football is on the up in his country.

“Ghana football is not dead! The indices does not point to a product that is dead,” he told Onua Maakye Sports. “We’ve seen the performance of Dreams FC and also Medeama for instance in Africa.

“We just won the gold in both men and women divisions in the All Africa Games. We’ve won the WAFU and CAF U20 boys as well. How can football be dead when successes are being chalked?

“Dreams FC, which is in the quarter-final of the CAF Confederation Cup, are battling relegation in the domestic top flight. That should tell you the quality of players and the league we have at the moment. Of course, there are always room for improvement but certainly our football is not dead.”