Accra, April 13, GNA - Mr Herbert Mensah, former Chairman of Kumasi Asante Kotoko Football Club has regretted that the nation was still lagging behind in football management and administration despite the recent strides made on the international scene by the Black Stars. He said the current leadership of the Ghana Football Association (GFA) must sit up and properly reorganize football in the country by putting up the appropriate structures in place to attract the needed corporate confidence.

Mr Mensah made these remarks at a press conference in Accra during the launch of Prosport International 96 Ghana on Thursday. The former Chairman said he made the same observation in 1999 and he was criticized but he still stands by the statement. "In a nation where clubs are still struggling to survive, with no proper medi-care, poor infrastructure and under funding, we cannot say we are progressing".

According to Mr Mensah, the nation's football is bedeviled with serious infrastructural problems and until they are rectified much progress cannot not be seen or achieved.

"I'm not criticizing just for its sake but I'm only exposing the problems at hand.

"In Ghana when one wins a league the only reward is a handshake whilst league champions in South Africa are given huge cash rewards for their efforts".

Mensah attributed the due recogniton to the failure of the FA and stakeholders to attract the interest of the corporate world, adding "it all boils down to the amateur set-up we have in the country". He said football is not properly run in the country that is why individuals and groups are struggling for money to manage clubs and players.

The former Kotoko Chairman said Prosport International 96 Ghana of which he is the head in the country is out to promote soccer by signing and representing top Ghanaian footballers as well as scout for and unearth young and talented football players across the country. Prosport has a network of offices situated in Johannesburg, Durban, Cape Town, England and Greece as well as associate offices in Nigeria, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The company has succeeded in placing players in the top leagues of England, Greece, Denmark, Israel and Turkey among others.