Sports Minister Mustapha Ussif slams Amputee team over external donations

The Minister for Youth and Sports has criticised Ghana’s Amputee national team for accepting external donations before officially coming to his office.

The Black Challenge won the 2024 African Amputee Football Cup of Nations (AAFCON) in Egypt last month.

The team emerged as champions of Africa for the second successive time when they defeated Morocco 2-1 in the final of the tournament.

Earlier this week, former Ghana President John Dramani Mahama donated a sum of $10,000 to the amputee national team.

However, upon visiting the Sports Ministry to present their AFCON trophy to the sector Minister, Mustapha Ussif expressed his displeasure with the team for accepting external donations before coming to his office.

"When you come after the successes and there's anything, the first point of call is this office [MoYS]. We're not going to tolerate you using the state for your personal benefits," the Sports Minister lamented.

"Unlike last year, this time when you landed and you came here directly, this year you started going from one place to another without any records to the government who sponsored you, and that cannot be tolerated."

Meanwhile, the Black Challenge have now booked their ticket to the next Amputee Football World Cup in 2026.

Ghana have been dominating Amputee Football in Africa in recent years and, in addition to their back-to-back AAFCON titles, they also won gold in the first-ever African Para Games Amputee Football Tournament last October.