Posted by 1971 African player of the year Ibrahim Sunday believes the reason why Ghanaian players have failed to win the African best award in recent times is beyond what happens on the pitch.
Speaking in an interview with FootballMadeInGhana, the former Asante Kotoko man revealed that the awards is being influenced by French nations and that is the paramount reason a Ghanaian player has failed to win the award since Abedi Pele did in 1993.
“It’s strange [no Ghanaian has won the award since 1993],” Sunday told FootballmadeinGhana.
“One thing we have to know is that today the selection is different from the past and we have more French-speaking countries in Africa than English speaking countries.
“So if it will come to a vote, the French-speaking people will vote for their players, unless an English-speaking African country has a player who is a genius.
“Now it’s more difficult than before. When France Football were doing, it was a bit fine because they were going in for exactly what they saw, but now it’s more about votes and opinions.”
Ibrahim Sunday’s speech attest claims recently made by Asamoah Gyan who revealed that he deserved to win the award in 2010 and 2014. And also Sammy Kuffour in 1999 and 2001.
It is a thing to note that the last player to win the award from an English speaking country is Nwankwo Kanu in 1999. The award from that time has been won by players from French speaking countries, bar 3 occasions which was won by players from Arabic speaking countries.