Ghana Football Association (GFA) President Kurt Okraku believes very few achievements of any football association supersede qualifying for the FIFA World Cup.
According to him, the World Cup brings so much exposure to a country, even beyond football, than any other football event.
Ghana qualified for three straight World Cup tournaments in 2006, 2010 and 2014, but missed out on the 2018 edition after failing to qualify.
However, the Black Stars will be returning to the Mundial later this year, having booking their place in Qatar via a playoff victory over rivals Nigeria.
Speaking at the GFA Congress on Tuesday, Okraku said the biggest achievement of any FA is ensuring its national team qualifies for the World Cup.
“This is the biggest achievement any member association can talk about. You can qualify for the u15, u17, u23 and the women but if you are absent at the Mundial believe me, you are nothing,” he stated.
“We shouldn’t take it for granted that we’ve qualified because this marks the beginning of a new era for Ghanaian football.
“When you qualify for the world cup, you are treated differently, for my colleagues who have been to Qatar, you’ve had a feel of it and you belong to the big boys.”
He added: “In 2018 we were absent, then we had problems with Anas video, then everybody started to forget about Ghana but Ghana is a superpower in football at least in Africa and we deserve to be there and we made it.”
The Black Stars are paired in the tricky World Cup group, alongside Portugal, South Korea and Uruguay.
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