Ben Koufie’s legacy lives on

He was born in Cape Coast in June 1932 and died a month after turning 84 years.

Legacy as player, coach and administrator

Playing career:

Ben Koufie was a stalwart defender, with good reading of the game at the back. He played his club football for Cape Coast Vipers and Kumasi Evergreens and his hard work earned him a call-up into the Black Stars in 1957.

Ben Koufie’s spell at the national team was very short, but because of his in-depth knowledge of the game at the twilight of his career, he was selected by Ohene Djan, the Director of Sports to pursue a coaching course in Czechoslovakia in the late 1950’s. His playing mate at Evergreens, Dogo Moro, says he was the person who nurtured him to rise to stardom. Dogo Moro and Bab Yara were the two Kotoko players that were selected by Ohene Djan as part of the players who formed the nucleus of Real Republicans formed by Dr. Kwame Nkrumah. Dogo Moro also played for the Black Stars for several years.

Coaching career

Ben Koufie has coached several clubs and countries in his enviable coaching career. He coached the Black Stars, Gt. Olympics, Akotex, African Sports and Zimbabwe

Achievements and legacies as a coach

AFCON 1970 final with Black Stars

He was the head coach of the Black Stars when the senior national team of Ghana finished runners-up in the 1970 Africa Cup of Nations. However, Ghana boycotted the medal ceremony when they lost the final to the host nation Sudan, because of the controversies surrounding the defeat. The Sudanese government gave Ghana an ultimatum to leave the country in some hours or face its wrath for boycotting the medal ceremony.

At Kotoko: He assisted Aggrey Fyn to win the Champions Cup

As the national team coach Ben koufie had an oversight responsibility over all the Ghanaian clubs, so helped Aggrey Fyn, the head coach of Kotoko to propel the Porcupine Warriors to their first ever African Club Champions Cup triumph in 1970, but the final against Englebert was played in January 1971. Kotoko defied all odds to beat T.P Englebert, who had drawn the first leg 1-1 in Kumasi to edge them 2-1 in Kinshasa. This was the first time a Ghanaian club won a continental title.

Impact in Zimbabwe football and the myth surrounding his exit

Ben Kouffie was in charge of the Warriors of Zimbabwe from 1988 to 1992. Zimbabwe came close to qualifying for the 1992 Africa Cup of Nations in Zambia, but unfortunately missed out. He quit the job due to his differences with the Zimbabwe Football Association (ZIFA). Ben Koufie, after failing to guide the team to the continental showpiece, infamously declared in 1991 that Zimbabwe would not qualify for any major tournament even if they imported a coach from the moon, a statement many believed cast a bad spell on the Warriors of Zimbabwe. They believe that curse hampered the growth of football in Zimbabwe and the York was broken in 2004. Zimbabwe’s Warriors finally exorcised the ghost that had been haunting them for two decades and dumped their label as the eternal bridesmaids of African football when they booked their maiden place at the Nations’ Cup soccer finals in Tunisia in 2004.

GFA Boss: Five-year development plan

Ben Koufie replaced Alhaji MND Jawula as the chairman of the Ghana Football Association in 2001, becoming the first person to play the Black Stars, coach the Black Stars and head the GFA in his career.

Ben Koufie’s era saw little success at the Black Stars, but he laid the foundation that would propel Ghana to greater heights in the future. He developed a 5-year that emphasized on youth development. It was during that era that Ghana reached the final of the FIFA U-20 World Cup in 2001 with the likes of John Paintsil, Addoquaye Pappoe, John Mensah, Michael Essien, Derek Boateng and Sulley Muntari in the thick of events. Most of these players were given the opportunity to play in the Black Stars after finishing second in the World Cup and the above named ones were part of the Black Stars team that qualified the nation to their first ever FIFA World Cup in 2006. Abedi Pele who was the General Manager of all the national teams during Ben Kouffie’s era stated that his former boss should be credited for the Black Stars qualification into the FIFA World Cup, since he insisted that the U-20 team should be given the chance to play at the senior level and it paid off.