Our reward for winning 1982 AFCON was flying in the presidential jet – Opoku Nti

Opoku Nti, a member of Ghana’s 1982 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) winning team, has revealed that the primary benefit his squad received for winning the tournament was boarding the presidential jet.

The victory in Libya 42 years ago marked Ghana’s last AFCON title. Since then, the team has experienced several near-misses in the finals.

Nti recalled that prior to the AFCON 1982 final, the late CK Gyamfi, the team’s coach, delivered a message from then-head of state Jerry John Rawlings.

The message promised that the team would be honored and that the honor would benefit them and their families if they won the Cup.

Nti shared with Joy Sports that Gyamfi repeatedly communicated this message to the team throughout their time in Tripoli. Despite the high expectations, the only tangible recognition the team received was a flight home on the presidential jet.

“Before the [AFCON 1982] final, we were there when the late CK Gyamfi came and said, 'This is a message from our head of state [Jerry John Rawlings] and it reads like this: 'If you win this Cup, we are going to honour you and this honour will benefit you and your children’.

“Every step, whether eating, training, after lunch or supper, he would read this message to us.

“Maybe, the benefit we had was being on the presidential jet.

"It took us from Tripoli, Libya and we were happy. We had to refuel when we got to Tamale, and when we got to Tema, we saw two jet planes."