Former Ghana international, Opoku Nti has revealed details about the Black Stars experience following their victory in the 1982 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) tournament.

In an interview with Joy News, the Asante Kotoko legend shared that the team was promised significant rewards by the administration of then-President Jerry John Rawlings.

However, these promises were not fulfilled upon their return.

According to Nti, the players spent several days in Libya after their victory because President Rawlings had arranged for them to receive a heroic welcome on the presidential jet.

Despite the excitement surrounding Ghana’s fourth AFCON trophy, the team was disappointed when they received no rewards upon their arrival in Ghana. During their visit to President Rawlings, their expectations were dashed.

“Before the [AFCON 1982] final, the late CK Gyamfi came to us with a message from our head of state [Jerry John Rawlings], saying: ‘If you win this Cup, we are going to honour you in a way that will benefit you and your children,'” Nti recounted. “Every step of the way, whether eating, training, or after meals, he would read this message to us. We didn’t even know that there were rumours in Ghana that [Muammar] Gaddafi wanted us to sell the match for Libya to win the AFCON. Lo and behold, we won the Cup.”

“Maybe the only benefit we had was being on the presidential jet,” Nti added. “It took us from Tripoli, Libya, and we were happy. We had to refuel in Tamale, and when we got to Tema, we saw two jet planes.”

During the flight, the team experienced a frightening ordeal.

“Something happened on the plane, and we were all crying. The pilot was flying dangerously, taking us high up and then coming down again. He did this a few times, and we were all scared to death because we had never experienced anything like that before. Even those outside waiting for us to land were shouting. If you look at the picture of our arrival, no one was laughing. We couldn’t laugh because our hearts were in our throats.”

After landing, they were taken to Konda Barracks, where they met Daniel Alolga Akata Pore.

“He told us the old man, whom he called Papa J [Jerry John Rawlings], was sleeping but would join us soon. We waited about 30 minutes before he arrived. He greeted us and spoke for a long time, covering politics and many other topics. He said that given the same opportunities as whites, blacks could achieve even more. In the end, he said Ghana had nothing to offer us except to say, ‘We salute you.’ Honestly, it pierced our hearts,” Nti recounted.

Ghana won the 1982 AFCON by defeating Libya 7-6 on penalties after the game ended 1-1 in regulation time.