President Kurt Edwin Simeon Okraku says the leadership of the Ghana Football Association has taken the right decision by dedicating time, recourses and energy towards the development of young talents in the Ghanaian football ecosystem.
His comments come in the wake of the launch of the Elite Talent Identification Program on Wednesday.
The Technical Directorate of the Ghana Football Association has completed a comprehensive blueprint that seeks to drive the talent identification agenda of the GFA across the various Districts and Regions of Ghana.
These talents would be selected from the Communities, Districts and Regions to form the base of the U-15 male and female national teams after which successful talents will progress to the Black Starlets and later to the Black Stars level.
‘’I am extremely happy today because when Ghanaians gave me the opportunity to serve football two and half years ago, one of the big promises I made to Ghanaians was to fix the fundamentals of our sport and to fix the problems that we have at the very beginning of our football enterprise’’ President Simeon-Okraku said.
‘’Beyond this, we are also thinking about the long-term prosperity of our sport and it’s the reason why today is a happy day for my good self’’.
‘’To invest in our collective future as people who belong to this football ecosystem is key and it is the wisest investment any leader can do to our sport’’.
‘’So, we are not being competitive today, we are thinking about our collective good tomorrow. To provide a fair playing ground for kids from the woods of Ghana to realize their dreams, their dream of also climbing the ladder to appear at the mundial one day’’.
‘’And it’s the reason why I will forever say thank you to my Vice (Mark Addo) because he’s been a pillar not only behind me but most importantly a pillar on this journey that has brought us here’’.
‘’It is the same reason why I will say thank you again to Bernhard Lippert. I know how difficult it has been but he knows that I believe in the vision. It only takes a leader who believes in the vision to invest in the vision’’.
‘’If I didn’t believe in the vision of protecting our collective future there is no way I will get my other colleagues on the Executive Council to approve this program’’.
‘’That is why I will say thank you to each Member of the Executive Council for believing in the vision. The vision of our football Association investing in our collective future, the vision of giving a good and fair playing field to kids from wherever we can find them to realize their dreams’’.
‘’We have achieved a lot of milestones in the last two and half years but believe me, this is the biggest’’ he added.
GFA COMMUNICATIONS