Youth and Sports Minster, Mustapha Ussif, has charged the Ghana Football Association (GFA), to focus on developing Ghana football from the juvenile level.
According to the minister, grass-root football is very important to Ghanaian football. The association called on to commit resources to colts football to ensure that we nurture the best talents for the national teams.
Speaking at the 29th GFA Ordinary Congress at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in Kumasi, the sports minister said the FA should take advantage of the various AstroTurfs constructed by the government to revive grass-root football.
“Grass-root development is the lifeblood of Ghanaian football, and we must reignite the vibrant juvenile soccer scene that once produced our legendary national players.
Let us nurture our young talents and provide them with opportunities to grow, ensuring a continuous pipeline of exceptional players for our national teams by taking advantage of over 136 AstroTurfs constructed by government and other private individuals.”
He also asked the FA to instil the spirit of nationalism in the youth as they develop them.
“In all the efforts the FA is making to develop grass-root football, let me hasting to add that we should include in our development process, the spirit of nationalism and patriotism among our players because i find it very difficult to comprehend that the state will make all the resources available by making sure that we want to give the opportunity to our national team, get them flight for camping opportunity, accommodate them for a very long period, feed them, give them even trial matches, then when these players get to tournaments, instead of them focusing on the tournament, their focus is now on their bonuses, meanwhile they are being paid allowances to make sure they focus on the tournament.
It is time for our juvenile and our national team players to value the flag that they represent.”
