Kevin Prince Boateng
Adam Kwarasey
Title: Fifa set to approve Boateng to play for Ghana at World Cup
Date: Thursday, 22nd April 2010
Fifa is expected to approve the nationality switch of Kevin Prince Boateng in the coming days as the Ghana Football Association (GFA) has finally produced documents to back the ex-Germany star’s nationality switch.
The world governing body has started investigating the issue to approve the player’s desire to play for the Black Stars at the World Cup and beyond, Ghanasoccernet can exclusively reveal.
But the nationality switch of Norway U21 goalkeeper Adam Kwarasey is still hanging by a thread as the documents required have still not been provided by the GFA.
Some members of the GFA vehemently denied a BBC report quoting Fifa last month that the extremely long delay in approving the nationality switches of the two players was because the federation did not provide all the documents needed for the approval.
Yet sneeringly, the GFA has now come up with the papers needed to approve Boateng’s quest to play for Ghana where his father hails from instead of Germany.
“The request from the Ghana Football Association concerning the player Boateng is now pending with FIFA and currently being investigated,” Fifa said in an exclusive statement to Ghanasoccernet.com.
This means if the player status committee sits within one month, the ex-Germany star will be approved to play for Ghana well in time for the World Cup which starts in South Africa on 11 June.
But the desperation of Kwarasey is expected to prolong as no papers have been provided for Fifa to clear him to compete for a place at the World Cup, Fifa told Ghanasoccernet.com.
“With respect to the player, Kwarasay, in summer 2009 the player personally contacted our services with regard to his possible change of association,” the Fifa statement read.
“However, since then no follow-up was ever received by the association concerned. As a result, there is no current pending case involving him, with FIFA.”
With the GFA delaying in providing the documents to back the goalkeeper’s switch, Ghana quest for a good replacement for Richard Kingson could be scuppered because of the GFA’s apparent lack of interest.
According to Fifa regulations on international switches, the player wishing to represent a new country must ONLY submit a written request to the world governing body seeking to player for another country.
But the federation the player wishes to represent must satisfy FOUR CONDITIONS including evidence of the player’s link to the country with a passport.
The GFA provided only a Boateng’s father’s birth certificate in its initial application which was rejected by Fifa on grounds that it does not prove his father is a Ghanaian.
Boateng’s father’s Ghanaian passport has now been provided which enabled the case to be opened by Fifa.
This means if the GFA had provided all the documents seven months ago when it applied for the switch, the Portsmouth start could have played for the Black Stars at the Africa Cup of Nations in Angola.
This is because it took Mali only THREE WEEKS to secure ex-France U21 striker Mamadou Samassa switch to play for the West Africans.[Credit: www.ghanasoccernet.com]
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