Spiritual backing key to Ghana’s success under Kwesi Nyantakyi, says Foh Amoaning

In an interview, Foh Amoaning shared instances where Nyantakyi sought spiritual guidance, such as making offerings at churches before matches, and emphasised the impact it had on Ghana’s success.

Under Nyantakyi, Ghana qualified for three successive World Cup tournaments and also reached the AFCON final twice. The country also won the U-20 World Cup, becoming the first African side to do so and Africa Cup.

Foh Amoaning described Nyantakyi as a good listener who incorporated both spiritual and physical measures, adding that the former GFA boss would occasionally call on him to help in making offerings at churches to seek the face of God before matches. He cited notable victories in World Cup qualifiers, such as the 6-1 victory over Egypt, as examples of the effectiveness of Nyantakyi’s holistic approach.

“The 6-1 we scored Egypt was just not in vain. One of the hallmarks of Kwesi Nyantakyi was that he was a good listener no matter what. He responded to the spiritual and physical things more than people know,” Foh Amoaning said.

He continued, “Ghana’s win over Mali away by 2-0 was also not in vain. Nyantakyi had travelled and forgotten about the offering we had to make, so he called his secretary to inform me to go and make that offering on his behalf. I went to Royal House and Apostle General Sam Korankye Ankrah knelt on his garment and prayed into the game. The late coach Addy is a witness to this, the entire fans at the Mali stadium were in white and yet we managed to beat them 2-0. I can give countless examples.”

Foh Amoaning concluded, “So if you see Kwesi Nyantakyi successful during his reign it was because he took care not only of the physical but also the spiritual.”

Nyantakyi served as the president of the GFA from 30 December 2005 until 7 June 2018, when he officially resigned following the release of the Anas Aremeyaw Anas Number 12 documentary, which exposed corruption within the organization. He was subsequently handed a lifetime football ban by FIFA, which was later reduced to 15 years by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

Source:Fiilasports/ghanasoccernet