As the Regional 2nd Division Leagues continues across the ten Regional Football Associations this weekend, U20 National Team Coach, Desmond Offei has praised all Division Two League clubs for their competitiveness and development of talent across the country.
The coach, who had 8 of his 20 AFCON qualifying players from Division Two clubs, was full of appreciation to the lower leagues and their clubs.
He also praised the scouting team that discovered the players for their effort.
“I want to thank the Division Two League Clubs for their developmental drive. Eight of my players for the recently concluded U20 WAFU B U20 championship in Togo came from the Second Division. This highlights the quality of talents scattered across the country,’ he told ghanafa.org
“To be able to put together Division Two players and compete at the level they did, is extremely commendable and heartwarming.”
“Together with my team, we’ll continue to monitor the development and progress of players from the lower divisions. I want to wish all the participating teams the best of luck ahead of the start of the new season.”
Eight Division Two players were part of the Ghana U20 squad that qualified for the U-20 Africa Cup of Nations, scheduled for next year after placing second in the WAFU B U20 qualifying campaign held in Togo.
The Best Player and Golden Boot winner at the recently concluded WAFU B U20 Championship, Jerry Afriyie, who plays for Thought FC, leads a host of players from the country’s Second Division side that participated in the sub-regional qualifying championship.
Others include Mustapha Abu (African Talent), Dennis Appiah (Bectero FC), Dennis Marfo (Zelina FC), Alhassan Alhassan (Kaistrom FC), Prince Baladom (Benab FC), Desmond Tetteh (Tema United) and Hayford Adu-Boahen (Cheetah FC) took part in the Championship.
The Football Association has trained scouts in all the ten football regions. The core role of these scouts includes monitoring grassroot football at the Colts level, Division Three and the Division One League venues.
The Scouts also work at the TDS Elite U-15 Boys Colts Championship and KGL U17 Colts Championships as well as the various middle Leagues and Women competitions, looking to identify talents to build a database of the very talented players who could be relied upon to perform to the required levels of excellence when called up to the various age category teams.
The impressive performances of the Division Two League players is directly linked to the huge investment made by the Football Association at the regional level over the period.
The GFA has invested heavily in the supply of free footballs and bibs, payment of of officiating fees, construction of boreholes, increased subvention for the ten Regional Football Associations with the singular aim of developing Colts football and all juvenile league across the country amongst others.
The investment in grassroots football and the result of these investment reflected heavily at the recently concluded WAFU B U20 Championship where eight (8) players made Ghana’s squad for the sub-regional youth championship.
