On Wednesday, March 12, 2026, Kurt Okraku was elected to the Executive Committee of the Confederation of African Football.
Having systematically cleared every hurdle and maneuvered his way to avoid competition, Okraku, who chairs WAFU Zone B, ran uncontested for the Executive Committee slot.
He joins an exclusive class of six Ghanaians who have served on the most powerful committee of the continent’s football governing body. The late Ohene Djan, Kobina Hagan, Nana Fredua Mensah, Samuel Okyere, and Kwesi Nyantakyi are the other members of this enviable group.
While Okraku may have his ambitions, the sub-region and Ghanaians have expectations too.
These expectations have been shaped by the conduct and impact of those who came before, and the WAFU blocks peculiar needs.
Ohende Djan’s legacy
Ghana football traces its origins to the end of the 19th century, with the formation of its first football club, Exelcior, in 1903. As far as structured and organized football is concerned, the Gold Coast Football Association was established in 1920.
The late Ohene Djan was GFA President, before serving as Executive Committee member at both FIFA and CAF
But development only started when Ohene Djan assumed control of the association decades later.
Ohene Djan’s futuristic and bold ideas forced a paradigm shift home and abroad. Under his leadership, he secured funding for Ghana’s European tour; U.K. in 1951 and later Eastern Europe in 1961 – he was Ghana’s director for sports (today’s equivalent for Sports Minister) by the time the second trip was organized.
These tours were not in isolation. Djan also recognized the need to invest in a new breed of football administrators and coaches, to raise the technical floor of the game, and expose Ghana to the latest trends of the sport.
In 1958, he secured funding for the state-sponsored trips of Chris Briandt and James Agyei to Cologne. Two years later, C.K Gyamfi went on a similar trip to Dusseldorf, Germany.
The third batch, made up of ten former footballers, was dispatched to Czechoslovakia in 1960.
To say the project was a resounding success would be understating it. C.K. Gyamfi of blessed memory, perhaps embodies the project more than anyone else.
In the inimitable Fiifi Anaman’s Biography of C.K Gyamfi, he references Djan’s influence in sending C.K. Gyamfi to Germany to study the latest coaching modules. To date, it remains Ghana’s most important investment in football.
The Black Stars enplane for Europe for one of two Europeans tours between 1951 and 1960
Gyamfi’s methods did not only revolutionize the sport in Ghana but on the continent as well.
He led the Black Stars to three Africa Cup of Nations titles; 1963, 1965, and 1982. In 1990 when the world was adopting a more modern outlook to coaching, C.K. Gyamfi’s programs were still good enough to produce world-class teams.
As Technical Director of the GFA, he developed the youth football policies that produced the Black Starlets teams that won the 1991 and 1995 world championships, silver medals in 1993 and 1997, and bronze in 1999.
For 39 years – between 1960 and 1999, Ohene Djane’s policies produced world-class coaches, players, and administrators who shaped this country’s football heritage.
But his biggest legacy perhaps was with the FIFA World Cup.
The year is 1964. FIFA has just decided that the 16-team World Cup would feature 10 teams from Europe, including hosts England, four from Latin America, and one from the Central American and Caribbean region.
That meant one remaining slot to be fought for by three continents: Africa, Asia, and Oceania. Ghana’s Director of Sport Ohene Djan who was also a member of FIFA’s Executive Committee, was not having it.
Ohene Djan’s memo was followed by another from the CAF Executive Committee, which he co-authored
In a telegram titled “Registering strong objection to unfair World Cup arrangement for Afro-Asian countries STOP,” Ohene Djan made his case to FIFA.
“Afro-Asian countries struggling through painful expensive qualifying series for ultimate one finalist representation is pathetic and unsound STOP At the worst, Africa should have one finalist STOP Urgent – reconsider.”
Djan and the Executive Committee of CAF argued that Africa’s standard of play had significantly improved and ought to be recognized by FIFA.
Secondly, they highlighted the cost implications of organizing a play-off tie between Africa’s top teams and their counterparts from Asia and Oceania.
CAF said its modules projected that the costs would be “onerously” expensive.
In July 1964, CAF announced its decision to boycott the 1966 World Cup unless Africa was given a place of its own.
Two years after the 1966 World Cup, FIFA expanded the competition to accommodate African and Asian teams and when it did, CAF’s demands from the original memo were all respected.
That was Ohene Djan’s impact on the CAF Executive Committee and the FIFA World Cup.
Another, somewhat less transformational, was Kwasi Nyantakyi.
His influence was seen more in the protégés he created across varying portfolios at CAF.
From club licensing, safety and security experts, media officers, and broadcasting consultants, to match coordinators, Kwesi Nyantakyi’s ascension to the seat in 2011 opened doors for many Ghanaians.
Former GFA boss, Kwesi Nyantakyi
Julius Emunah, Ibrahim Sani Daara, Frederick Acheampong, Emmanuel Dasoberi, and Tony Baffoe, have all risen to enviable positions.
Kurt Okraku has to find his path though.
Whatever it is, he has to address some key issues, willy-nilly.
He could start with youth football qualifiers.
At the moment, the regional qualifiers for youth football competitions mean that the continent’s strongest teams will no longer be at major competitions. WAFU Zone B, for example, houses Ghana, Nigeria, and Cote D’Ivoire.
For CAF under 17 Championships, ‘‘The qualifying phase is organized in the six zones recognized in CAF statutes. Each zone qualifies two teams except the zone of the host country organizing the Final tournament which will qualify only one team in addition to the host country team which is admitted automatically.’’
Good luck, Kurt Okraku, you will need a lot of grace to fill the big shoes of Kwesi Nyantajkyi, and with some luck, attempt the late Ohene Djan’s.
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