Minister for Sports and Recreation Kofi Adams says the National Sports Authority (NSA) has explained the process for taking people abroad in connection with the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
He made the comments in an interview on TV3 on October 11, 2026, monitored by MyRoyalFM.com. He explained that the ministry does not usually discuss the details of its work unless an issue comes up.
“Well, many of you see that in times like this, sports usually don’t get platforms to discuss what it is that we do. You only get invited sometimes when there are issues. And so when we get such opportunity, we also want to talk about what it is that we are doing,” he said.
Kofi Adams Speaks on Sports Development
The minister said it was important to discuss the work being done in sports before results become visible. He also spoke about the sports plans of President John Mahama.
“Until you start getting the results. And so it is also important for us to introduce this subject and speak to what his excellency John Mahama has been doing in the sector of sports”
Adams said the president had made it clear that the government would focus on developing school sports and grassroots sports.
“He made it very clear about the fact that government was going to focus on establishing what we call the schools and grassroots.”
Kofi Adams noted that many people were calling for more attention to be given to grassroots sports and schools. He said strengthening school sports was an important part of this effort.
“If you listen to everybody talk now, they say we must go back to the grassroots. We must go to our schools and make sure that school sports is strengthened.”
Government Works to Strengthen School and Grassroots Sports
Adams said the government had appointed a national coordinator and a deputy coordinator to help develop school and grassroots sports.
He explained that building a strong system takes time and requires proper structures to support sports development.
“He didn’t just leave it at that. We have gone ahead and appointed a national coordinator and a deputy coordinator who have worked tirelessly over the period because, you see, you don’t just start and things happen.”
The minister said the government needed to establish the structures that would allow school and grassroots sports to work effectively.
“You have to build the structure. The structure on which the school sports and the grassroots sports will function. There is an FA responsible, for example, for football.”
He also mentioned other sports federations that are responsible for different sporting activities, including athletics, badminton, lawn tennis and swimming.
“There are other federations responsible for various sports. You have the athletics, you have the badminton, you have lawn tennis, you have aquatic swimming and so on and so forth. You have various federations.”
Kofi Adams Explains Changes to Black Stars Spending
The minister also discussed efforts to reduce some of the costs linked to the Black Stars.
He said the government believed some expenses were too high and needed to be reduced.
“Again, there are some categories of officers we thought that what they were taking was just too high and so we needed to reduce it. So, relating to black stars.”
Adams said the Black Stars previously spent close to US$2 million when playing two qualifying matches. He said the amount had been reduced to US$1.3 million.
“Any time they had a two-game qualifier, those times they were playing qualifiers, they were spending close to about $2 million. We reduced this to 1.3.”
He also addressed concerns about the benefits Ghana receives from taking part in the World Cup and other international competitions.
“Again, people talked about how we have been to World Cups and they don’t see what we get from the World Cups or our participation in international tournaments has been useful.”
Government Establishes Sports Fund
Adams said the government had established a sports fund under an Act of Parliament to help ensure that money earned from international competitions would support sports development.
He explained that the fund was intended to receive money earned through Ghana’s participation in international sporting events.
“Long before this conversation, what the NDC administration did under his excellency President Mama is to establish a sports fund backed by an act, an act which states clearly that every dollar, every cent, every pesa that we earn from our participation in international competition will go into the fund.”
Kofi Adams Explains Ghana’s 2026 World Cup Preparations
Speaking about preparations for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, Adams said he requested a meeting with the United States ambassador in the early part of 2026.
He explained that the ambassador had left at the time, so officials from the embassy arranged a meeting in response to his request.
“So right around 20 early part of 2026, I, as minister responsible for sports and recreation, requested to have engagement with the American ambassador. At that time, the ambassador had gone, and it was the shade affair that was in charge; they hadn’t appointed a new ambassador, so he acquiesced to my request”
Adams said he later held a wider meeting with ministry staff and some officials from the US embassy. He said the meeting went well and led him to consider how Ghana’s preparations for the tournament should be organised.
“We came down and had a larger meeting with my staff and a few other persons from the embassy who joined. The meeting went very well. Then I returned to the office and decided there was a need for us now to structure the system towards this World Cup.”
Ghana to Focus on Two Group Matches in the United States
The minister said the oversight committee decided that Ghana would focus on two group matches in the United States because of logistical challenges and rising costs.
“The oversight committee at a certain point decided that, looking at logistical challenges and how expensive the factors we were considering were becoming, Ghana was going to focus on two games, two group games in the United States of America”
He also referred to visa arrangements for Ghanaian officials and other people travelling in connection with the tournament.
He said Ghanaian government officials would use A or G diplomatic visas, while individuals or entities sponsored by the Ghanaian government would use B1 or B2 visas.
“Government of Ghana officials A or G diplomatic visa and government of Ghana sponsored individuals or entities that one to B1 B2 visas to advance the US commitment to facilitate legitimate travel of Ghanaian nationals.”
Watch the full interview below:
