By 2017 beach soccer will be the number two sport in Ghana after football and Black Sharks can be number 1 beach soccer team in Africa.
This is the bold prediction of the founder and president of Ghana’s fastest growing team sport. The national team Black Sharks was only constituted in 2013 but is currently ranked 19th by FIFA. The team narrowly missed out on World Cup qualification but claimed the Afcon Beach Soccer goal king with Alexander Adjei grabbing 17 goals.
Yaw Ampofo Ankrah also believes that once the media pay more attention to beach soccer with Live commentaries and discussions, the sport will take off nationwide.
With a meagre budget of just 44,000 cedis a season for the league and a further $20,000 a year for the national team, beach soccer is probably the most efficiently run sporting discipline in Ghana.
Ampofo Ankrah heaped praises on President Mahama for his keen interest in developing coastal communities using beach soccer as one of the tools. Special mention was made of Hon Dzifa Aku Attivor who mobilised funds and corporate sponsors for the Black Sharks to enable them participate in the maiden Afcon Beach Soccer tournament in Seychelles.
According to Ampofo Ankrah, ” if the President had not shown beach soccer massive love, we would not have been able to travel to Uganda and qualify for the Afcon. Similarly, the genuine interest and support of the Transport Minister made it possible for us to annex the goal king title in Seychelles”.
