The preparations of Ghana’s female Under-20 team, the Black Princesses, towards their 2018 Women’s World Cup (WWC) qualifiers could be greatly hampered as they may not be able to begin early camping due to lack of funds.
The Princesses begin the qualifiers away to Algeria in September, and new head coach, Yusif Basigi, has invited 30 players to begin the initial camping at the Ghanaman Soccer Centre of Excellence in Prampram today, but reports the Graphic Sports has picked is that it has been called off following the caterer’s insistence that she would not cater for them if funds were not made available.
A source told the Graphic Sports that the caterer said she had run out of funds, having been made to pre-finance for the male Under-17, the Black Starlets and the Black Stars B teams which have been in camp for a while, preparing for their respective international assignments.
The Graphic Sports has learnt that cash situation has been so dire that the two male teams literally feed on the basic ‘kenkey, hot pepper and fish diet’ with management committee members made to provide funds ‘if the teams need to vary their diet.’
The technical team of the Princesses have expressed concern given the short time they have to prepare for the qualifiers.
With its cash situation also not the best at the moment, the Ghana Football Association (GFA) is reluctant to pre-finance the preparations of the national teams as it claims ‘it is always a tussle to have such monies refunded.’
Also, the technical handlers of the senior female team, the Black Queens are similarly worried as their request to begin camping to start preparing for the 2018 African Women’s Championship (AWC) which Ghana will be hosting, has not yet been approved.
“The budget for the camping has been submitted and the Ministry of Youth and Sports (MOYS) promised to make some money available for camping to begin. Unfortunately, no money has been received and the caterer has emphatically indicated that she would not be responsible for the Princesses if they report to camp without money,” a management committee told the Graphic Sports.
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