Sports and Recreation Minister Kofi Adams says all earnings from Ghana’s participation in international competitions must go into the Ghana Sports Fund, ending federations’ control over the money.
Adams told TV3’s Hot Issues that the rule applies to every federation, including the Ghana Football Association (GFA). The GFA handles Ghana’s biggest single source of such income, World Cup money paid by FIFA.
The stakes became clear this year. Ghana went out of the 2026 World Cup in the round of 32, a stage at which FIFA paid each national association between $11 million and $12 million in prize money, according to published breakdowns. That is roughly GH¢129 million to GH¢141 million at the Bank of Ghana’s early-October interbank rate. FIFA pays the money to national associations, not to governments or players.
‘Every pesewa’
Adams said the change answers a long-running public complaint that Ghanaians see little benefit from the country’s World Cup appearances and other international outings.
He said the law behind the Sports Fund requires that “every dollar, every cent, every pesewa” earned from international competition is paid into it. Federations will no longer decide on their own how to spend such proceeds, he said.
He presented the fund as part of a wider push for financial accountability in sport. That push also includes publishing budget estimates and cutting spending on Black Stars matches.
What the law says
Parliament passed the Ghana Sports Fund Bill on 18 December 2025, and it became the Ghana Sports Fund Act, 2025 (Act 1159). Adams inaugurated an 11-member governing board in January 2026. President John Mahama named banker Dr David Kofi Mawuvi Wuaku as the fund’s administrator.
Reports on the bill when it passed listed parliamentary allocations, special sports lotteries and 10 percent of fees the Gaming Commission of Ghana collects from sports betting among the fund’s revenue sources. Those reports did not single out competition earnings. The fund is meant to pay for athlete welfare, infrastructure, grassroots programmes and the training of sports administrators.
The GFA has not publicly responded to the minister’s remarks.
