Former France international, Marcel Desailly has revealed he encountered corrupt officials, as he attempted to lease and redevelop the El Wak stadium years ago

The 1998 FIFA World Cup winner alleged that owners of the facility were reluctant to opening up to help build the facility.

“It was hell trying to find out who exactly it belongs to," Desailly said in an interview on Joy Sports Link last Saturday.

"From the military side and others," he continued. "My aim was not to take the place for myself, considering the military are the ones that use the place for some official duties, but the guys were not opening up.

"We are corrupt, I have to say the truth!” the former Chelsea defender alleged.

The El-Wak sports stadium is a facility that can host many sporting events, including football, athletics, handball, basketball, etc.

Desailly who later invested his resources into building Lizzy Sports Complex from scratch revealed he had a plan in place to restructure the stadium.

“I had the model," he began "El-Wak needed commercial spaces around, just as I had done at Lizzy’s, reorganize the sports facilities because there was handball, basketball. I could create a pool as well as the track around it, a gym just to be able to bring income to maintain the sports facility."

The 52-year-old said renovating the stadium was in the interest of the public, calling on the Ghanaian community to be more transparent.

“We have to be more open," Desailly admonished, "we have to understand and have the bigger picture.

"It was awful,” he concluded.

After the failed attempt he abandoned his plans for El-wak, saying, there was no turning back.