President John Dramani Mahama has reiterated that the the Ghana government cannot afford to spend US$11,000 per head to fly supporters to the 2026 World Cup to cheer up the Black Stars.
He said apart from some registered members of the supporters unions noted for always travelling with the senior national team for many tournaments and games, who may be getting support to travel, there are plans to procure tickets for Ghanaians in the diaspora, who want to attend the games.”
He explained that the nature of hosting the World Cup in three different countries makes it expensive to fly supporters all the way from Ghana, but added that there are arrangements to procure match tickets for Ghanaian fans in the diaspora.
He was addressing a diaspora town hall meeting in London on Sunday evening [May 31, 2026] as part of his visit to the UK this week, P
resident Mahama said: “with regards to the Black Stars, it will be difficult to take our supporters from other domain,” he said while responding to a question on whether the government was going to sponsor Ghanaians in the UK to also fly to the US to support the senior national football team.
“We are restricted because of the nature of this particular World Cup. Its being held in three countries and we are playing our first match in Canada, and then move to Boston, and to Philadelphia, and the cost of transporting, feeding, accommodating each supporter is beyond our means.”
2026 World Cup: Gov’t cannot afford to spend US$11,000 per head to fly fans from Ghana pic.twitter.com/laldWzVzbv
— DailyGraphic GraphicOnline (@Graphicgh) May 31, 2026
“We say we are being fiscal disciplined, we cannot spend our money in that manner. The cost approximate for each person to be fed, accommodated, transported and all that to watch the games, the tickets and all that is estimated at almost US$11,000. And so how many can we take. So we are concentrating mainly on the supporters unions, they have a tradition of following the team to different places,” President Mahama said.
“They’ve been here to the UK, they’ve been to Germany and they are registered members of the supporters union but what we are doing is, we are procuring tickets for Ghanaians in the diaspora, who want to attend the games. And so if you want to attend the game, you will get a ticket to attend the game. And so we have organised our chapters, our Ghanaian citizens in Boston, Philadelphia, in Canada and so the tickets that we have purchased, we will give to them to be able to watch the match,” President Mahama added.
“Somebody says why did you come to our country?” Human beings from time immemorial have very mobile. That is why there is migration to other countries – President Mahama at town hall meeting in London pic.twitter.com/C6CHDqpBvi
— DailyGraphic GraphicOnline (@Graphicgh) May 31, 2026
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