Avram Grant Urges Ghana FA To Improve Local League To Keep Players

The Black Stars coach has called on the authorities in charge of football to improve the local league in order to prevent players from leaving for greener pastures. Ghana coach Avram Grant has advised the country's football association and stakeholders to make the local league attractive enough to prevent players from moving overseas. The 60-year-old Israeli said poor pitches and lack of sponsorships are some of the reasons why local footballers leave the country to ply their trade abroad. �I think if we improve the pitches and find more money and sponsors that can help the players they will not run away to play outside,� Grant told Metro TV. �I don�t understand why they go to play in Azerbaijan, Pakistan and other countries but if we improve the league a little bit, the players will stay one more year and mature. �Everybody is running away and I don�t like it. Most of these players are running to clubs in Africa and some go to first divisions and second division in Sweden and Norway. This is not good.� �The Ghana league is competitive. I see a lot of action in the league and the players are giving everything," he added. Last season's winner Ashantigold FC were awarded $13,400 as the prize money of which many Ghanaians criticised as 'too small and uninspiring.' The league's title sponsor First Capital Plus bank has pulled out of the sponsorship deal, and with the 2015-16 season scheduled to kick off on December 20, Goal sources have disclosed that clubs may play without a sponsor.