FIFA to approve Tariq Lamptey’s Ghana nationality switch next week

Brighton & Hove Albion defender, Tariq Lamptey, is inching closer to becoming fully eligible to play for the Black Stars.

This follows his acquisition of a Ghanaian passport and his decision to quit representing England where he plied his youth-level international football.

Brighton Argus, a website that reported the latest on Brighton & Hove Albion defender said that world football governing body FIFA will approve Tariq Lamptey’s nationality switch next week.

“The full-back [Tariq Lamptey] has pledged his allegiance to the Black Stars and is expected to be given the all-clear by FIFA next week after acquiring a Ghanaian passport. Lamptey will be hoping he will be able to play in the 2022 Qatar World Cup,” the report said.

Tariq Lamptey represented England at the U21 youth level but is yet to make a senior appearance which makes his nationality switch easy.

Lamptey was called up to the England Under-21 squad for fixtures this month but asked to be withdrawn so he could switch allegiances to Ghana.

The former Chelsea full-back was also recently in Ghana where he was spotted in Cape Coast, watching the Black Stars play Madagascar in the AFCON qualifiers.

It has been reported that Lamptey will be named in the 2023 AFCON qualifiers in September before the World Cup in November.

Meanwhile, Ghana has already qualified for the FIFA 2022 World Cup in Qatar and will face Portugal, South Korea and Uruguay in their group.

Ahead of that, the management team of Black Stars is hoping to beef up the squad with some foreign-based players expected to make a nationality switch as well.