The Ghana Football Association’s (GFA) recent support package for colts clubs has been met with cautious optimism by the Juvenile Club Owners Association of Ghana (JUCOAG) President, Selasie Glover.
GFA President Kurt Okraku announced the initiative during the National Juvenile Committee’s inaugural meeting on Thursday (28 March).
The package includes new footballs, trophies for regional champions, and, crucially, opportunities for top performers to trial for the national U-17 and U-15 teams. Coach capacity building is also included but with limitations.
Glover, while applauding the direction, expressed concern about its reach. “I think it is a good step,” he told Asaase Online in an exclusive interview. “We hope that it gets to the district level; that is the broader picture.”
His worry lies with the coach development programme, potentially excluding those who need it most. “Usually the clubs that will end up getting to the regional or national level will be clubs that already have coaches that have their capacity building or are already licenced coaches,” he explained.
“In the district level is where you have other clubs that are not really well to do but are trying to manage well to nurture some talents for Ghana. So at that level, we’ll still need capacity building for some of those coaches.”
GFA Colts Club Support Package:
- Investment in the purchase of footballs for Colts clubs.
- Ten trophies for all champions of Regional Colts Leagues.
- Plaques to be given to top scorers and best players at the end of the season. Ten plaques will be given to top scorers and another ten plaques will be given to the best players in each regional league.
- Trial opportunities in the national U-17 and U-15 teams to be provided for best players and top scorers.
- One set of jerseys to each regional champion.
- Ten balls for each regional Colts champion and five balls for each Regional runner-up at the end of each league season.
- Regional champion qualifies to National Inter-Clubs U-17 Champions League
- Top scorer from the National U-17 competition will be given shopping voucher valued at GH¢1000.00 to shop at Melcom.
- Best Player in national championship to receive a mobile phone.
- Certificates of participation will be given to all the clubs who participated in the league.
- Capacity building for coaches of clubs that qualify for the national championship.
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