President John Dramani Mahama has said that Ghana’s infamous Brazil 2014 World Cup campaign dented the country’s reputation.
It will be recalled that in 2014, Ghana’s World Cup campaign was marred by controversy when players refused to train ahead of their crucial final group game against Portugal over unpaid appearance fees.
The then-Mahama government had to fly $3 million in cash to Brazil to settle the players before kicking off the move, which caught global headlines.
The Black Stars of Ghana eventually lost that match 2–1 and failed to advance beyond the group stage.
President Mahama admitted that airlifting cash to Brazil to pay players their appearance fees badly hurt the country’s reputation.
Speaking in an interview to Sporty FM in Accra, President Mahama stated, “Brazil 2014 dented Ghana’s reputation, but that is all behind us now”.
“We’ve encouraged the GFA to ensure that payments due to the players are processed as quickly as possible. To ensure Brazil doesn’t happen again, there must be discipline and transparency.”
Mahama further explained, “We believe this campaign should be more disciplined and transparent. Often when decisions are made and funding is opaque, it creates all kinds of rumours and misconceptions in society”.
“The players have accounts now. We can pay their money directly instead of flying cash to them. That’s why I say the lessons of 2014 have been learned, and I believe this will be a smoother, more disciplined, and transparent campaign.”
Meanwhile, the Black Stars on 12 October 2025, officially qualified for the 2026 FIFA World Cup after finishing the qualifiers as leaders in their Group.
Ghana defeated Comoros 1-0 at the Accra Sports Stadium, with Mohammed Kudus scoring the only goal in the game.
After 10 games in group I, the Black Stars topped the table with 25 points, Madagascar second with 19 points, Mali third with 18 points, Comoros 15, Central African Republic 8 and Chad in sixth place with 1.
Ghana joined the list of qualified countries on the African continent, with Coach Otto Addo now becoming the first Black Stars coach to reach two consecutive FIFA World Cup tournaments.
Additionally, Ghanaian football fan Obour has sent a message to US President Donald Trump following the Black Stars securing qualification for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
According to Obour, Ghanaians are coming to support the Blackstars to victory in the United States, but not to run.
Speaking to the media, the Ghanaian football fan stated, “Donald Trump should be careful, my message gives it to Donald Trump, his dream of Ghana and Nigeria not qualifying, he should take out the Nigerians, we Ghanaians are coming.
We are coming to America, we are not coming to run, we are coming to support the Black Stars. We are coming to support our team to go forward”.
He added, “So, we are not thinking about America or Donald Trump; we are thinking about the Ghana Black Stars to bring the World Cup back home.