The Sports Minister, Ghana’s ambassador to Qatar with some of the supporters
The Minister for Youth and Sports, Mustapha Ussif, has appealed to Ghanaian fans who have travelled to Qatar to offer support to the Black Stars, to bear with challenges they may face.
Prior to the start of the World Cup in Qatar, the Sports Minister told Parliament that due to the current global economic challenges, government would not be funding supporters to Qatar. Instead, he noted, the Ministry of Sports would seek support from corporate institutions to be able to send a few Ghanaians, who would be joined by Ghanaians and Africans based in Qatar to support the Black Stars.
During a visit to the Ghana supporters’ camp to check on the fans on Tuesday, Mustapha Ussif stressed on the financial challenges, and how the ministry is striving to give the supporters the best, with the meagre resources it was able to mobilise.
“All we want to see is to make you very comfortable but you know resources are very scarce. We have global economic challenges and because of the global economic challenges that we find ourselves, we had to move from one corporate institution to another corporate institution appealing for support. “So the little that we have been able to raise, we will use it on you to support our Stars,” he explained.
“We know there are some challenges but we are human beings and we cannot get everything perfect. We started from Accra with challenges and we got here with challenges, but I want to appeal to you to forgive us for any problem you have encountered on your way here.
“We might not get it perfectly, but that is the little we can do. We know we are not here on holidays; we are here to sacrifice, dedicate and work hard to support our Stars,” he added.
The minister thanked the supporters for their unwavering support for the Black Stars, which he said is urging the team to go all out.
The Ministry of Youth and Sports, together with the Ghana Embassy in Qatar, have also mobilised over 1,000 Ghanaians and Africans based in Qatar, to offer more support to the Black Stars.
The ministry provides them with match tickets for them to be able to access the stadium.
The Sports Minister, Ghana’s ambassador to Qatar with some of the supporters