Ex-TP Mazembe star reveals why Ghanaian clubs struggle to win continental cups
- Adamu Muftawu
- May 1
- 2 min read
Former Asante Kotoko and TP Mazembe midfielder Daniel Nii Adjei has revealed why Ghanaian clubs are struggling to win continental trophies lately.
The last Ghanaian club to advance into the knockout stages of a continental club competition was Dreams FC, whose debut appearance ended in the semifinals of the CAF Confederation Cup last season. After a goalless first leg draw in Cairo, the “Still Believe Boys” suffered a 3-0 loss to Zamalek at the Baba Yara Stadium in the reverse encounter to exit with their chests high.
Nii Adjei, 36, won the CAF Champions League, Confederation Cup and the Super Cup with TP Mazembe within two years. He spoke to Radio Gold on the continental trophy drought of Ghanaian clubs.
“I think those in the North and the South African clubs are investing a lot into the football because they know what they will get at the end so they are investing more, money, when it comes to players, coaches and then everything,” Adjei told Radio Gold.
“I think that is what is working for them so if we [Ghana] will be able to invest in our football, I think we will get there because when the players are getting the experience, here [in Ghana] we call them that they are old men and then we send them away and we go for new players which are the younger ones.
“When we go, we come out and we can’t qualify but them, they rely on quality, experience and maturity but here we don’t do that and it is something that is not helping us.
“Because let’s see Al Ahly, their players are older players. They just add up to the old ones so that in future the young ones will be there for the team. Same as Sundowns, their players have played like seven years, they are the same players."
“I will use Ghana, if a player is playing in one team for five years, they will say the player is old and then they will send the player away. In Ghana, there are a lot of experienced players but we have retired them early so I think that is what is disturbing us,” Nii Adjei added.
Nii Adjei, who is currently an assistant coach at Ghana Premier League side Heart of Lions, boasts of another CAF Super Cup when he joined Morocco club Wydad AC to lift the trophy in 2018. He has three Ghana Premier League titles with Asante Kotoko.
Ghanaian giants Hearts and Kotoko remain the only clubs to have laid hands on major continental silverware with the former grabbing a continental treble in 2000 [league, CAF Champions League and Super Cup]. They went on to lift the maiden edition of the CAF Confederation Cup in 2004 after beating rivals Asante Kotoko to the title over two legs.
Kotoko on the other hand furnished their trophy cabinet with two African Cup of Champions Clubs, now known as the CAF Champions League, in 1970 and 1983.
