On 30th January 2025, an Accra-based Court of Appeal acquitted former Ghana Football Association President Kwesi Nyantakyi ending his five-year trial and legal battle for lack of evidence in a case between him and investigative journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas stemming from 2018 leading to Nyantakyi' s resignation and bans.

With no evidence and refusal of Anas to appear in court in person and without wearing his mask which the latter failed to comply and the unnecessary delay in the trial, has led to the discharge of Nyantakyi by Her ladyship, Justice Marie-Louise Simmonds.

Anas investigations were believed to be aimed at the perceived allegations of bribery, influencing of games and referees, autocracy, and receiving of kick-backs from prospective investors in Ghana football at the time inspired that famous number 12 expose by the Tiger Eye where a lot of football administrators and referees in Ghana and parts of Africa were caught on film taking bribes.

Lawyer Kwsesi Nyantakyi became the President of the Ghana Football Association on 30 December 2005, preceding Dr. Nyaho Nyaho-Tamakloe until 7 June 2018, when something unfortunate happened, causing his resignation and eventual ban from all football related activities in Ghana and beyond. Although Nyantakyi could not win any trophy for the Ghana National team or the Ghana Black Stars, his role and the experience he brought into Ghana football can never be underestimated.

It was very sad that the unfortunate happened to Kwesi at his peak time when he became famous and gained national, African, and International recognition as one of the fast-rising football administrators in the whole of Africa and beyond under then-famous football idols Issa Hayatou (CAF President) and Sepp Blatter (FIFA President) serving on various football committees in the Confederation of Africa Football (CAF) as well as Federation International of Football Associations (FIFA).

He was tagged at that time as the likely and immediate successor of then CAF President Issa Hayatou, but that unfortunate incident which many football expects deemed the downfall of Ghana in all football activities stemming from the domestic leagues, African football, and football at the world stage at large.

It's amazing for the first time to know Ghana as one of the football powerhouses in Africa failed to qualify for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations to be staged in Morocco a record that has never happened in over twenty years in the history of Ghana football.

Under the reigned of Kwesi Nyantakyi as the President of the Ghana Football Association (GFA), Lawyer Nyantakyi has worked hard in securing massive sponsorships and promotional deals for the local leagues and most of the national teams notable among the telecommunication giants during his tenure as the GFA President includes GLO, MTN, GNPC, UNIBANK GHANA, CHECKIGHANA.COM, RICE MASTERS, HUAWEI TECHNOLOGIES, GUINNESS GHANA LTD, LATEX GHANA LTD, BLUE ROSE GHANA LTD, STAR ASSURANCE LTD, and the seat of government itself- The government of Ghana.

Although a lot of Ghanaians and sports commentators were agitating for his head and removal from office and questioning his integrity regarding and attributing conflict of interest, autocracy, mafia, and alleged perceived bribery under his tenure, it is worthy to note that truly speaking and not arguably Ghana football was at its very peak and far better than now where we saw all the Ghana national teams performing creditably well, especially the nation's number one brand The Ghana Black stars.

The Black Stars under Kwesi Nyantakyi qualified for all the Africa Cup of Nation tournaments from 2005 to 2018 reaching the finals as runners-up two times in 2010 and 2015 and numerous 3rd places as well.

His search and choice for coaches for the national team although none has won Ghana any trophy, Ghana was better in terms of performance of coaching under Nyantakyi as compared to the current Kurt Okraku administration as the president of the Ghana Football Association.

Notable coaches hired by Nyantakyi include Ratomir Dujkovic, Milovan Rajevac, James Akwesi Appiah, Avram Grant, Goran Stevavanovic, Sellas Tetteh, and Claude Le Roy. In all these coaches can be rated above 5/10 in both qualification and participating in Africa and during world tournaments and competitions.

Although the Black Stars could not clinch any major trophy under Kwesi Nyantakyi, it is worth noting that there was perfect cohesion, telepathy, and teamwork among all the national team players at every level of football in Ghana including the Ghana U-20 team, the Black Satellites winning the under 20 Africa cup of nations and the u-20 world cup as well by beating Brazil at the finals on penalties in Egypt.

On the world stage, Kwesi Nyantakyi's influence has significantly propelled the national teams to achieve some level of success at the u-17, u-20, u-23, the Local Black Stars, the women teams and the Black Stars qualifying and representing Ghana three times at the world cups held at Germany 2006, South Africa 2010 and Brazil 2014 been the last one before his ban and even coming close to make history with the Black Stars during the South Africa world cup 2010 close to the semifinals berth if not of Uruguay Luis Suarez "evil" hand handling the ball the in the goal post denying Ghana a place in their first semifinals stage by an Africa Country at world cup tournament, a record Morocco attained at the last world cup tournament held in Russia.

Ghana under the current GFA administration failed to qualify for Qatar 2022.

Regarding sponsorships for tournaments, Kwesi Nyantakyi's influence can never be underestimated either especially the landmark sponsorship deals the Ghana Football Association broke for the 2014 tournament in Brazil.

For the Brazil 2014 tournament, the Black Stars alone have received over $20 million US dollars from sponsorships appearance fees, and budgets. The headline sponsor at the time Ghana National Petroleum Company (GNPC) ran a 3-5 years sponsorship package with a chunk sum of over 3 million dollars for the 2014 tournament and beyond. The GNPC on record has been the headline sponsor throughout the 2014 World Cup qualifiers after taking over from the 2006 Germany/2010 South Africa headline sponsors, Goldfields Ghana Limited.

Unibank Ghana, one of the leading banks in Ghana, 2013 Best Bank in Retail/ IT& electronic/ best bank short-term loan financing, also joined the Black Stars cash train a sponsorship deal of over $2.1 million in addition to VISA credit cards to all the Black Stars players during the 2014 world cup tournament at Brazil.

Others include;

CheckingGhana.com - 100,000 dollars

Huawei Technologies (GH) SA Ltd - 100,000 dollars

Guinness Ghana Ltd – Gh₵ 2.8 million

Latex Foam Ghana - 100,000 dollars

Blue Rose Ghana Ltd - 90,000 dollars

Star Assurance Ghana - 600,000 dollars

The government of Ghana - 75,000 dollars

Locally then in the Ghana Premier League GLO, MTN Ghana, and Super Sports (DSTV) were the frontline sponsors of the GHANA PREMIER LEAGUE and official broadcast partners. The Ghana FA was also been sponsored by MTN Ghana.

Since the ban of Nyantakyi in 2018 Ghana football has never seen the daylight and as a matter of fact, Ghana football is struggling and crawling to get even a single sponsor for both the Black Stars and the local premier league clubs as well as the other national teams and the other sporting disciplines.

The senior national teams have also recorded the worst performances in all major tournaments including the Black Stars failing to go past the group stage at the last Africa Cup of Nations where Ghana failed to qualify from the group stage, the worst and most shocking was when the national team the Black stars failed to qualify for the 2025 Africa cup of nations to be held at Morocco.

Under the Current GFA president Kurt Okraku, Ghana Football has gone from bad to worse since taking over the seat in 2018/19 to date, recording the regrettable sad incident recently where a football-loving fan of the porcupine warriors Asante Kokoto Francis Yaw Frimpong (a.k.a Nana Pooley) being gruesomely murdered during a league match at Nsoatreman park on Sunday February, 2nd 2025 during a league match between Nsoatreman Football club and Kumasi Asante Kokoto, an incident which was condemned by all sports loving fans across the globe.

Personally, apart from the shortfalls of Mr. Nyantakyi, on the better side, he has helped to strengthen and re-shaped the sports structures in the country during his tenure as the Ghana Football Association president including his influence on the lesser-known and disabled sports in Ghana although he had a lot of back clash from portions of Ghanaians regarding less funding for the other lesser known sports and disable sports.

In all apart from him not winning any major trophy for the national team the Black Stars since his tenure on the scale, he stands out as one of the best Ghana football presidents in Ghana football history, an accolade that cannot be taken away from him.

Hum!, although Kwesi Nyantakyi naked his political affiliation and publicly declared his political affiliation, solidarity, and allegiance to the past New Patriotic Party (NPP) when he contested in the NPP parliamentary primaries at the Ejisu constituency in Kumasi which he eventually lost though many Ghanaians thought he shot his foot which could affect his future dream and career aspiration of seeking into the higher office of Ghana football again. I assumed Nyantakyi may he never dreamt he would be acquitted and discharged by the Appeal court even though he was cleared by FIFA.

Judging from his in-depth and vast knowledge of the association's football administration, let us forget his political affiliation and all the troubles that have befallen him in the past since he has learned his lessons from whatever has happened.

My plea and appeal to the current NDC government led by His Excellency John Dramani Mahama the humble and listening President of Ghana and the indefatigable Sports and Recreation Minister Honorable Kofi Adams is that they must try to bring Mr. Kwesi Nyantakyi the one-time best and finest sports administrator who had served on most of CAF football committees and been the past West Africa Football Union (WAFU)president and his various roles and achievements with the world football governing body, Federation of International Football Association(FIFA) must be brought on board and also if possible be assigned and task with a special role in the sports ministry in arrears regarding consulting, sponsorship and other diverse ways of revamping and reshaping the fallen standard of the current status of Ghana football.

For me and many Ghanaians, we felt Kwesi Nyantakyi has already suffered a lot of humiliation and public ridicule as a result of the Anas expose and the subsequent ban from all football activities. He has learnt from his mistakes and we know as a listening President and also humble minister, Hon. Kofi Adams please kindly convince the President His Excellency John Dramani Mahama to reconsider Mr. Nyantakyi into any advisory roles in any arrears regarding sports reforms and development in the country.

Finally, I think bringing him on board to tap his rich experience and his in-depth knowledge and influence in football especially will go a long way in reshaping the sunken image of Ghana football forgetting his recent affiliation with the New Patriotic Party (NPP).

Let us bring Kwsesi Nyantakyi back and to himself he must gather courage and take inspiration from the current President John Dramani Mahama how he lost power in 2016 and regained power back in 2024.

Mr. Nyantakyi kindly contest for the next GFA presidential elections when the time is due, some of us Ghanaians still have trust in you.

Long live Ghana Football: Long live Kwesi Nyantakyi .