The conclusion of the 24th edition of the CAA Senior Athletics Championship in Accra has left behind more than medals, records and celebrations.
Beneath the excitement of continental competition lies growing concern over the inability of Africa’s premier athletics event to attract many of the continent’s biggest stars.
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Despite Ghana’s successful hosting of the championship, the absence of several elite African athletes has sparked serious debate about the future relevance, commercial value and global appeal of the competition.
President of the Ghana Athletics Association, Bawah Fuseini, openly admitted the challenge while reflecting on the tournament and the difficulties organizers faced in securing sponsorship.
According to Fuseini, Ghana relied heavily on domestic athletes and a limited number of African stars to attract local sponsorship support, but the absence of top names affected efforts to secure major international backing.
“We used some of our domestic athletes to be able to get the sponsorship from Ghana and we are also using some of the African athletes to be able to draw the African sponsorship but unfortunately we were not able to attract enough of the top African athletes to come for this championship,” Fuseini said.
He explained that the presence of elite African athletes would have significantly improved the commercial strength of the competition and increased the chances of attracting international sponsors.
“That’s why we were able to get local sponsors but unable to get international support. If we had the opportunity to incentivize those top African athletes to come here, we would have used their presence and participation to get international sponsorship for this competition,” he added.
Fuseini compared the situation in athletics with football, pointing to the success of the Africa Cup of Nations as an example of how continental competitions can thrive when nations prioritize their best talents.
“We can make comparison between the Confederation of African Football and Confederation of African Athletics.
Anytime there is Africa Cup of Nations, almost all countries come with their best footballers. That is why CAF always gets sponsorship for the Nations Cup,” he stated.
The Ghana Athletics Association boss stressed that athletics in Africa continues to face a major identity challenge despite the continent’s dominance at global competitions.
“Africa, we have the best athletes in the world but yet our best athletes do not compete in our topmost event in Africa. That is something for the CAA to pick up,” Fuseini lamented.
His comments have intensified calls for the Confederation of African Athletics to introduce stronger policies that will protect the prestige of the African Championships and ensure the regular participation of elite athletes.
Observers believe the CAA must now consider reforms including improved calendar alignment with global events, appearance incentives for star athletes, enhanced commercial packaging and long-term sponsorship structures.
Fuseini also admitted that organizational and technical difficulties remain major obstacles for African athletics.
“To make sure that the top African athletes participate in African Championships, even though there are other challenges with organization, with feeding, with technicalities. If we do not get the best to be able to get the money to fix those challenges, these challenges will continue to be there,” he explained.
Funding, according to him, remains the biggest obstacle confronting sports development across the continent.
“You know the African problem is funding. If a State is telling you that if you do the competition within this period, we will be able to fund you, but if you do it at other periods we will not be able to fund you. In Ghana we have a peculiar situation why we moved the competition from July to May,” he said.
The decision to move the championship to May generated controversy because several African student-athletes based in the United States could not participate due to academic commitments and collegiate schedules.
Fuseini, however, defended the decision, insisting it was necessary to secure government support and avoid a clash with major global sporting events.
“You know football in Ghana is a totally different ballgame altogether. When there is the World Cup nothing goes on. If you bring your program within the World Cup period you can rest assured that you will not get anyone’s attention,” he said.
He acknowledged that Ghana itself suffered from the absence of some of its own top athletes studying and competing abroad.
“Because we also have some of our topmost athletes in the US academy system and they were not able to come. But should Ghana wait and the whole Africa should wait till August? The program is for Africa, not for Ghana or any other country,” Fuseini noted.
He further explained that scheduling conflicts involving the World Cup, Commonwealth Games, World Juniors Championships and Youth Olympic Games forced organizers into difficult decisions.
“We considered all these things before we came to the option of either doing it before the World Cup to avoid competitions or pushing it to next year. The second option was not something we could consider,” he explained.
Despite the challenges, Ghana successfully staged the championship, showcasing Africa’s resilience and commitment to athletics development under difficult financial conditions.
Fuseini concluded with optimism that the establishment of a sports fund in Ghana could improve future championships and sports financing.
“We will continue to advocate for more funding. All these things we just mentioned are the functions of funding,” he said.
The debate emerging from Accra has once again highlighted the urgent need for African governments, corporate institutions and the Confederation of African Athletics to unite behind the continent’s flagship athletics championship.
While Africa continues to produce world-class athletes capable of dominating global competitions, stakeholders now face the challenge of ensuring those same stars consistently compete on Africa’s biggest stage.
