Demand for Ghana cocoa increased in South-East Asia after 2006 World Cup performance — Kwasi Nyantakyi

Former Ghana Football Association president Kwasi Nyantakyi has attributed the increased demand for Ghanaian cocoa in South-East Asian markets like Japan and Korea to the Black Stars' performance at the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany.

In an interview Bola Ray on Accra-based Starr FM, the ex football official said he led a delegation of Ghanaian footballers on a post-World Cup friendship tour of Japan and Korea in 2006.

“Wherever we went because of our exploits at the World Cup, people were just running after our players including Asamoah Gyan, John Mensah, John Painstill etc. They were worshipped, I mean literally worshipped as heroes," Nyantakyi stated.

It was during this tour that Nyantakyi says officials from the two Asian countries revealed to him that they had never heard of Ghana before the 2006 World Cup.

According to Nyantakyi, "They thought it was Diana in the Caribbean and that since Ghana went into the 2006 World Cup, the demand for Ghana’s cocoa had increase in Japan and Korea."

The former CAF vice president believes Ghana's performance on football's biggest stage in Germany, which saw the Black Stars reach the round of 16, helped introduce the West African nation to new markets and increase global awareness of Ghanaian commodities like cocoa.

Kwasi Nyantakyi made this remark while recounting the impact he had on football in the country and his decision not to go back to it even after he must have been exonerated from the 2018 Anas ‘Number 12’ exposè.