The Ghana Football Association has spent $8.6 million on projects funded with money from the FIFA Forward programme since 2016, according to a report from world football’s governing body.

The FIFA Forward initiative is tailor-made support for football development that the organisation provides for all its 211 member associations (MAs) and six confederations. In total, Ghana was entitled to get $10.7 million in that period, but just over 80 percent of that amount ($8.6 million) was approved by FIFA.

Each country that accessed the funding spent on what they considered priority areas. FIFA says it only disburses funds based on compliance by the beneficiary MAs with the relevant articles of the Forward Programme regulations, submitting to a central audit review by FIFA for each financial year, and providing compelling projects for approval.

To that end, Ghana’s approved funds – according to the report – were used to develop football across eight main areas over the seven-year period under review: provision of equipment and associated materials ($3.1 million), administration and governance ($2.9 million), infrastructure ($900,000), national teams ($800,000), competitions ($500,000), women’s football ($500,000), capacity development ($200,000), football operating expenses ($100,000). These were broad breakdowns.

It must be noted that this funding has so far been accessed by the administration of Kwesi Nyantakyi (which ended in 2018), the FIFA Normalisation Committee that took temporary charge of Ghana football, and the incumbent Kurt Okraku regime.

53 percent of the allocation was spent on operational costs, but only 51 percent of the $4.3 million available for spending on projects was accessed.

What others did

A look at how other African MAs spent their allocations gives an insight into each nation’s priorities.

• Gambia, for example, accessed 100 percent of their project allocations, building a staggering 14 pitches (natural and artificial grass), and renovated one playing surface. The Gambian FA also upgraded its national technical centre to a hotel status, which accommodates the national teams and, when not in use by the teams, is rented out to third parties.

• Lesotho also built four technical centres
• Niger gave subventions to 91 clubs while building one stadium, two technical centres and upgraded their FA headquarters
• Sao Tome built a stadium and one artificial pitch
• South Africa built two technical centres; Tanzania built two technical centres with four pitches (natural and artificial grass)
• Zambia renovated four stadium and added four pitches to its technical centre.
• Morocco, having already established a solid infrastructural base, devoted over $500,000 from the FIFA Forward funds to support their women’s league, focusing on football education, infrastructure and standard remuneration for the players. The results have been incredible, as the Atlas Lionesses (the Moroccan women’s national team) secured a second-place finish at the 2022 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations and booked their first-ever qualification for the Women’s World Cup in 2023, while the U-17 team participated in the 2022 Women’s U-17 World Cup 2022 in India.

The tangibles

In terms of Ghana’s specific projects, the report says the $900,000 spent on infrastructure was for the building of an artificial pitch. Checks by Joy Sports show that this pitch is an AstroTurf located at Winkogo, near Bolgatanga in the Upper East Region. Construction started in June 2022, handing over by the contractors to the Ghana FA was done in May 2023, before it was then commissioned in June. The facility is the first phase of a planned Upper East Regional Technical Centre.

The report also lists five other specific projects funded by the programme, including in the areas of IT and provision of training equipment. Joy Sports understands that the IT component involved FIFA paying for computers and internet connectivity available to all Premier, Division One and Women’s Premier League clubs, as well as Regional Football Associations (RFAs).

Over the period, training for using the FIFA Connect system, which is for registering players, has been done. This is in addition to capacity building for the use of FIFA’s Competition Management System (CMS) for Premier League, Division One, FA Cup and Women’s Premier League competitions for men and women.

All these milestones, including an ongoing pilot for two Division Two Zones in the Greater Accra region, stem from the funding provided by FIFA Forward.

Ghana football DNA

Earlier this year, the country’s football governing body published, with great fanfare, a document detailing a national football philosophy. The hope was that this document will be the blueprint for talent identification and a recognisable style of football from Ghana. According to FIFA, the entire process was funded by the Forward programme.

“In 2020, the Ghana Football Association (GFA) decided to use funding from the FIFA Forward Programme to fund the development of a national philosophy for the growth of men’s and women’s football, coach education and technical management. The project included the hiring of an experienced technical director from abroad to set up the project and train a Ghanaian successor,” the report says.

FIFA Forward in context

Between 2016 and 2022, FIFA made approximatively $2.8 billion available to the 211 FIFA Member Associations (MAs), the six confederations, and the various zonal or regional associations, and funded more than 1,600 specific projects with a long-term impact on football development during the first seven years of FIFA Forward.

Established in 2016 after Gianni Infantino took office as FIFA President, the programme lists its main aim as “giving everyone around the world the chance to play football”.

The report outlines that 80% of the investment across FIFA Forward 1.0 and 2.0 from 2016 to 2022 – more than $2.24 billion – was made directly to Member Associations both to make an essential contribution to the operations of football development activities and to enable investment in specific projects with a long-term impact on football development.

The funds invested resulted in 577 new pitches being laid and 208 new competitions established, directly providing more than 300,000 women and men around the world with new opportunities to play football, per the report.

From 2023, FIFA Forward 3.0 promises that each Member Association is eligible to receive up to $8 million per four-year cycle, with additional funding available for confederations and zonal or regional associations.

The FIFA Forward programme was previously called the FIFA Goal Project.