Finnish top-flight club SJK Seinajoki have signed a multi-year cooperation agreement with Ghanaian club Vision FC to scout and develop young talents from Ghana.
As part of the deal, SJK Academy have loaned midfielder Salim Yussif from Vision FC for the rest of the season, with a purchase option in the contract.
Yussif, born in Ghana in 2002, played in the NCAA college series for the men’s team of Springfield’s American International College in the US on a scholarship organized by Vision FC. He has already impressed SJK’s coaches with his technical abilities and attacking skills.
SJK’s technical director of sports, Richard Dorman, said, “As a club, we want to develop as educators of young players and to form a successful representative team from them in the future.” He added, “We must strategically look for ways to get even stronger player promises for our player path. We want them from Seinäjoki, the whole of Finland, but also from abroad.”
SJK Academy manager and coach Brian Page praised the collaboration, saying, “This whole new collaboration with Vision FC is something that arouses enthusiasm for us.” He added, “In my opinion, cooperation patterns like this help each party perfectly. I am very excited about this, and I hope that this will be a long-term collaboration.”
Michael Osekre, chairman of Vision FC, expressed his excitement about the project, saying, “We create a unique opportunity for these young people to reach their dreams and become professional soccer players. Our club is very excited about this project, as the player path and development goals are strongly involved in it. We hope that in the future we will be able to further deepen our cooperation, which is just starting.”
Vision FC, founded in 1999 and based in Accra, have three different development teams playing in the Ghanaian men’s leagues and cooperates with several European clubs.