WAFA

Gideon Mensah, Augustine Boakye, Majeed Ashimeru, Felix Annan — the roll call of players who left Sogakope for careers in Europe and the Ghana national team runs long enough that WAFA is discussed less as a club than as a production line. The West African Football Academy formed in August 2014 when the Feyenoord Academy, running since 1998 in Gomoa Fetteh, relocated and merged with the Red Bull Academy set-up already in place at Sogakope since 2008.

Andre Ayew and Christian Atsu are also linked to the academy, though how much time either actually spent training there is disputed.

The club has never held a losing complex against Asante Kotoko or Hearts of Oak, and its home record against both has made it, in the description used locally, a thorn in the flesh of clubs many times its size. That competitive streak peaked with a runners-up finish in the Ghana Premier League in 2016-17 and a share of the Ghana Champion of Champions title in 2018, drawn with Karela United.

What the academy has not done is turn its production of individual talent into a team achievement of the same standard: a league title has stayed out of reach, and so has the Ghana FA Cup.