• Stephen Appiah says call-up was based on merit

• He says the coach then had the right to decide who was called up

• It comes on the back of rumors of interference in Black Stars selection

Former Black Stars captain Stephen Appiah says call-ups into the national team during his era was purely based on form and merit.

Appiah told TV3 that the privilege of selecting players for the Black Stars was the sole right of the coach and not any other person.

He explained that the word interference was unknown to the team and its leadership as successive coaches suffered no external influence in doing so.

He noted that the Ghana Football Association played their role which, to the best of his knowledge, did not involve recommending players into the team.

“Luckily in my time I never experienced that. The coaches called players based on form. If you are playing well, of course you would get a call-up.

“What we have to know is that even if the best players are called up there will still be people that will be pointing out that certain players should be called up.

“I have never experienced the interference (but) now that I am away from this team I don’t know what is going on there,” he stated in an interview with TV3 monitored by GhanaWeb.

Recent call-ups by Black Stars coach CK Akonnor have been fraught with allegations of undue influence from GFA executives.

There have been talk that some players are called based on their relationship with executive council members of the GFA.

These allegations were parried by Akonnor in a recent interview during which he stated that he is the man solely responsible for the invitation of players.

“Yes, I am my own man. I have other technical brains that I consult when inviting players for the team and that is why they form part of the handlers of the side,” a visibly worried Coach Akonnor said.

“I take my own decisions and then discuss the final players with the Management Committee members, but that does not mean there is any interference from them,” he explained.