Ibrahim Sannie Daara says the Number 12 documentary fundamentally changed how Ghana was perceived across African football, with the country’s reputation suffering long after the investigation was released.
The former Ghana Football Association Communications Director, speaking on Kafui Dey’s platform, said the fallout extended beyond Ghana’s borders, affecting relationships the country had built over many years.
“A lot of the goodwill we had built was destroyed,” Sannie Daara said.
The investigative documentary by Anas Aremeyaw Anas, released in 2018, alleged widespread corruption in Ghana football and led to the resignation of then GFA president Kwesi Nyantakyi. The fallout also saw Nyantakyi leave his positions at CAF and FIFA before receiving a FIFA ban, which was later reduced to 15 years on appeal.
According to the CAF Media Officer, the impact was immediately felt across the continent.
He recalled attending the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations, where he witnessed firsthand how attitudes towards Ghanaians had changed.
“When one of the guys introduced himself as a journalist from Ghana, the president of a federation just got up and left. He said he didn’t want to hear about Ghanaian journalists,” he recounted.
Sannie Daara also said the documentary created an atmosphere of suspicion around Ghanaian football.
“Referees were afraid to officiate Ghana matches because people would conclude they had been bribed,” he said.
He believes those perceptions damaged the credibility Ghana had built over decades and affected far more people than those directly involved in the investigation.
Although the criminal case against Nyantakyi was dismissed in 2025 after prosecutors failed to produce key witnesses, Sannie Daara said the reputational impact of the documentary continues to be felt within African football.
