The Executive Council of the Ghana Football Association has approved a policy document and support structure for Juvenile competitions across the ten Football Regions for the 2022/23 football season.

The policy will serve as a guide for the Regional Football Associations to run their Juvenile competitions in the year under Review.

Key amongst them is a special reward system for winning coaches, emerging talents i.e. top scorers and best players as well as Trials opportunities in the national U-17 and U-15 teams for the best players and top scorers.

Also, the Regional champions automatically qualify to play in the National U-17 Inter-Clubs Champions League and a Capacity building for coaches of sides that qualify for the national championship.

Read on for the full document:

JUVENILE FOOTBALL GUIDELINES 2022/2023

• U-13 players can play for U-15 and U-15 players can also play U-17, only one player from U-13 should be able to play for U-17 on a match day and five (5) from U-15 can play for U-17 on a match day.
• Each club must play U-17 matches every week while the U-15 and U-13 alternatively every week.
• Both U-15 and U-17 players must play more than 14 league matches in a league season while U-13 plays not less than eight (8) matches.
• The Catch Them Young/Youth Referees must be involved in the officiating of all matches.
• The durations for all juvenile competitions should be as follows;
• U-17 45 minutes; Two halves  -  90 minutes
• U-15 40 minutes; Two halves  -  80 minutes
• U-13 25 minutes; Two halves  -  50 minutes

Additionally, penalty kicks would be used to decide the winners of a drawn game in all juvenile competitions to help players to regularly practice it.

• Training and capacity building for Senior Regional Screening and Registration officers at the GFA, then these officers will also go and train their Regional Screening and Registration Teams.
• Final screening of qualified teams will be done in their various regions by the GFA/NJC/LOC for the National Competitions. Pictures will be taken for all players who are successfully screened by the GFA Communication Team and personal data will be collected, compiled and used during the competitions.
• Scouting of players will be done during the Juvenile leagues to open up the selection process for the junior national teams.
• Inter-Regional Championship will be played in Kumasi in May 2023.
• NJC Teams will visit the RFAs to discuss the policies further for smooth implementation and monitoring.

SUPPORT FOR JUVENILE FOOTBALL - 2022/2023 SEASON

1. GFA to invest money in the purchase of footballs for juvenile clubs.
2. Ten (10) trophies for all champions of Regional Juvenile Leagues.
3. Plaques will be given to the top scorers and best players at the end of the season. Ten (10) plaques will be given to top scorers and another ten (10) plaques will be given to the best players of each regional league.
4. Trials opportunities in the national U-17 and U-15 teams for the best players and top scorers.
5. Two (2) set of jersey to each regional champion.
6. Twenty (20) footballs for the Regional champions and ten (10) for the Regional runners-up at the end of the league.
7. Regional champion qualifies to National Inter-Clubs U-17 Champions League
8. Top scorer in the national competition to shop at Melcom for GH¢1000.00 worth of groceries.
9. Best Player in national championship to receive free mobile phone.
10. Best player and three (3) family members to be sponsored for a weekend trip to a tourist destination of their choice in Ghana by GTA (Domestic Tourism).
11. Certificate of participation for all participants.
12. Capacity building for coaches of sides that qualify for the national championship.

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