The untold story of how Nkrumah's Ghana led Africa to boycott the 1966 World Cup

Ghana's first president, Kwame Nkrumah, is regarded as one of Africa's greatest pan-African activists.

Nkrumah had a strong desire to push for social change for Africans in the eyes of Europeans and thus had doses of himself in almost all of his appointees.

Hence, it was unsurprising that the first Ghana Football Association president, Ohene Djan, who was appointed by Nkrumah, rallied

Read full articleAfricans to boycott the World Cup in 1996, ultimately achieving their goal of fair treatment at the international level in football.

The boycott was in response to calls for Africa to have its own World Cup qualifiers.

After FIFA had distributed fifteen (15) of its sixteen (16) 1966 World Cup slots among Europe, Latin America, Central America, and Carrabian in 1961, the body decided that Africa, Asia, and Oceania will compete for the remaining slots.

Ohene Djan, a member of FIFA's executive council at the time, objected to the decision, calling it "insulting, appalling, and humiliating," as described in late Black Stars coach Charles Kumi Gyamfi's autobiography:

"Djan, Who had then risen through the ranks of international football administration to become a FIFA Executive Committee member, was very dissatisfied with this arrangement. So dissatisfied was he that he would risk taking a stand of dispute a few years later. This was in 1964, when FIFA met and decided to maintain that same structure, Djan cried foul, calling it "inadequate and insulting", and FIFA's treatment of Africa "appalling and humiliating".

Djan's cay was so loud that it inspired an African boycott of the 1966 FIFA World Cup in England. Djan's position on the FIFA Executive Council and activism at the global level was another example of Ghana's push for "international prestige","

Although FIFA ignored Djan's protest and continued with the tournament without any African team, they reconsidered their decision in the next edition in Mexico. 

FIFA allocated one slot to Africa, which means that for the first time since the continent competed in World Cup qualifiers in 1958, Africa had a clear path.

Morocco were the first country to qualify through the straight route.


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