Nyantakyi explains how his exit from the GFA cost Ghana a ‘very possible’ CAF top position

Nii Ayitey Brown 11:49 - 06 January 2026

Kwesi Nyantakyi

Former Ghana Football Association (GFA) President Kwesi Nyantakyi has claimed that his departure from football administration in 2018 cost Ghana a “very possible” opportunity to have one of its own lead the Confederation of African Football (CAF), reflecting on a turbulent period that reshaped his legacy and the country’s influence in African football.

In an interview on Joy News on January 6, 2026, Nyantakyi said his position as first vice‑president of CAF before his exit placed him squarely in line to succeed to the top job “if the president was not there” at the time.

It was very possible. At the time I exited CAF and football, I was the first vice president of the federation. I was the next most senior football official on the continent of Africa. So it was just a matter of course that if the president was not there, I was the most favourable person to step into his shoes. So, Ghana would have had a CAF president,

he said. Nyantakyi’s comments come as he reflects on one of the most dramatic falls from grace in Ghanaian football history.

In June 2018, his career came under intense scrutiny after the release of the Number 12 investigative documentary by Ghanaian journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas, which appeared to show him accepting cash from an undercover reporter and suggesting he could leverage political connections for personal gain.

The public outcry that followed forced Nyantakyi to resign from his posts at the GFA, CAF, and FIFA within days, ending a reign that had begun in 2005 and seen him rise to become one of African football’s most powerful administrators.

At the time, FIFA imposed a lifetime ban on Nyantakyi for breaches of its ethics and anti‑corruption rules, though that sanction was later reduced to 15 years on appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Yet the legal battles stemming from the Number 12 affair continued for years afterwards. In February 2025, an Accra High Court discharged Nyantakyi of all charges related to the exposé and corruption allegations after a protracted five‑year process in which the prosecution repeatedly failed to present key evidence or witnesses.

The High Court’s dismissal brought an end to one of the most watched legal sagas in Ghanaian sports history, and was widely reported as a vindication by Nyantakyi’s supporters. On the same outlet, Nyantakyi also maintained that the past no longer weighs on him personally.

I am not hurt by anything like that. Life goes on. There are many opportunities in life for every individual,

he stated.Nonetheless, Nyantakyi emphasised that “it is still possible” for Ghana to produce a CAF president in the future, noting that “anybody who works hard can be the president.”

His reflections come on renewed optimism for Ghanaian representation within CAF, with current GFA President Kurt Okraku having been elected to the CAF Executive Committee in March 2025.

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