Former Black Stars striker, Joe Debrah has narrated how the Ghana Football Association, led by Kwesi Nyantakyi, frustrated and neglected his son, Yannick Debrah, after he sustained an injury at a Ghana U-20 camp in 2018.
In an interview with Dan Kwaku Yeboah, the former Asante Kotoko striker, hinted that the Black Satellites’ coaches demanded money after calling up his son, who then played for Schlake academy.
“When he came a lot of things happened,(but) I don’t want to talk about it.”
When the retired footballer was asked if the coaches demanded money, he replied: “Yeah, I can say it was something of that sort but I don’t want to mention(names).”
Debrah narrated that his son got injured during a friendly and had to return to Germany, but the FA refused to pay for his return ticket, forcing the family to foot the bill.
“So they played a friendly and he had an ankle injury, so he had to go back. Meanwhile, when he was coming he didn’t inform Schalke. And the ticket they(FA) bought initially was on short term and he overstayed. So the FA had to buy a ticket for him to return but it became a problem, so we had to buy the ticket for him to return.”
According to him, the GFA promised to refund the money but never did.
“The FA said they will refund the money but up till now, they have not given us anything. It was around 2018, 2019. It was U-20 qualifiers for the tournament in Poland…under Nyantakyi. I’ve talked with them(Current GFA) severally but now they don’t pick my calls,” he added.
Deborah, who shared the story with disappointment, concluded by describing how he was ignored after suffering a knee injury during AFCON 1992 qualifiers in 1991.
“You cheated us when we played for the national team. Since I got injured, no one checked up on me up till now. Since my knee injury in 1991, never. I played in the qualifies for Senegal 1992(AFCON), but it is one of those things so you can’t say much about it.”
Joe Debrah, also known as ‘Afriki,’ is regarded as one of Asante Kotoko’s most prolific strikers. He began his career with Kotoko before moving on to Ashanti Gold.
He played for the Black Stars for a short time before retiring due to injuries.
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His son, Yannick, now at age 22 player in the third-tier league in Germany SV Eintracht Trier 05. He has scored three goals in 6 games in all competitions this season.
Source: www.ghanaweb.com
