The first batch of students for the Elite Ghana Football Academy in Winkogo, have been admitted at the Bolgatanga Senior High School in the Upper East Region.

This follows the decision of the Executive Council to establish a Technical Centre at Winkogo to harness the quality of talents from the school sector in the three Northern regions (Northern, Upper East & Upper West regions) of Ghana.

The policy seeks to partner schools in the three football Zones to set up these Academies as players in Junior High Schools will be screened and placed in Senior High Schools in selected parts of the country.

President Kurt Edwin Simeon-Okraku is hungry for the restoration of the nation's status as an African football powerhouse for which reason the administration is embarking on this groundbreaking project – called the GFA Elite Academy, coupled with the FIFA Talent Identification and Development program.

This forms part of the grand scheme by the Ghana Football Association to build academies in all 10 football regions of Ghana and Bolgatanga has been chosen for the pilot project. These Academies are aimed to collaborate with the best schools in each region, providing a comprehensive education alongside the elite football development program.

The concept which is open to both Boys and Girls is aimed at gathering the best football talents between the ages of 15-16 who would ordinarily not be found in the woods of Ghana.

Same strategy will be repeated in the Ashanti Region, representing the middle belt and in the Greater Accra Region, representing the South Coast.

What that means is that we will be catching all the super talents, very young, at the right level in ages and then using our football philosophy to offer them football tuition. These players will be available to all the clubs in Ghana and they will also be available to our national teams.

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