The President of the Ghana Football Association (GFA), Kurt Edwin Simeon-Okraku, has urged Ghanaian clubs to embrace the CAF Club Licensing Online Platform (CLOP) system for the advancement of football in the country and on the African continent.
Addressing Ghana’s Premier, Women’s Premier and National Division One League clubs at a one-day workshop organised by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) in Accra, President Simeon-Okraku called for collaborative efforts and knowledge sharing in delivering football in its best form for the Ghanaian people.
The continent’s governing body, in collaboration with the GFA, organised a one-day stakeholder workshop for the 18 Ghana Premier League (GPL), 20 Women’s Premier League (WPL) and 48 Division One League (DOL) Clubs at the Alisa Hotel in Accra on Thursday, May 23, 2024.
The workshop forms part of CAF’s ongoing scheme at creating world class administrative structures across the continent through the rollout of the Club Licensing Online Platform (CLOP) system.
The highly educative event, attracted some high ranking administrators including Chief Executives and Club Licensing Managers of Premier, Women Premier League and Division One League Clubs across the country.
The workshop saw the administrators being taken through CLOP Training, CAF Club Licensing Regulatory Framework for men and women’s football as well as the mandatory CLOP criteria for domestic and continental competitions.
President Simeon-Okraku was encouraged by the energetic spirit of participation from the clubs and their appreciation of the essence of the Club Licensing Online Platform (CLOP) which is designed to equip the clubs and to facilitate the digitization of their administration.
This was demonstrated by the overwhelming response from the clubs and the desire to improve, implement and make use of technology in spearheading a revolutionary programme aimed at contributing immensely to a world-class football administration system in the country.
“I am very happy to be seeing all the beautiful faces of our Licensing Board, Appeals Board, Premier, Women and Division One League members duly represented here. I am happy all of you accepted the invitation to be part of this workshop,” President Simeon-Okraku said.
“I want to thank the Confederation of African Football (CAF) for giving Ghana the opportunity to host this workshop. To think about the development of our game, to think about how far we want to go and to think about the fact that we want to deliver football in its best possible form, it was always prudent for Ghana to commit our funds towards hosting this workshop. Thankfully, I got overwhelming endorsement from the Executive Council to spend your money to host this workshop”, President Simeon-Okraku explained.
“One of the foremost reasons why I accepted to host this workshop is this beautiful gathering! This is the only platform that will offer Ghana such a unique opportunity for all of you to be part of this process, for us to engage, exchange and to learn. I love capacity building and I always cherish and pursue an agenda for our people to learn. This is the only way we can improve our game.”
President Okraku underscored the importance of improving the administration of the game by highlighting the hard work put in since he assumed the leadership of the Ghana Football Association.
“Since 2019, we have pursued the journey of continuously improving systems, processes and the general health and management of our football. I am happy to say that, over time, the licensing board has worked very well with all of you. We know what standards to expect going into the new season.”
The President cautioned that there would be no room for any club that attempts to circumvent the rules ahead of the 2024-25 League season.
“In times past, we had not placed premium on the financial documents you always submit in fulfillment of the licensing demands. We shall place a lot of premium on this next season. So, for those of you who have, rather unfortunately, not been entirely up to speed with this requirement, you would need to up your game! I am just saying this to sound a note of caution,” he stated emphatically.
He urged greater collaboration with the Club Licensing regime to deliver football of the highest quality.
“I want our friendship to grow, underpinned by honesty and transparency so as to ensure that we work together and deliver outcomes that advance our Football. There is a lot of potential in our country and we need to improve on our delivery. In service marketing, excellent delivery is always the best!”, President Simeon-Okraku emphasized.
“The FA will continue to make the right investment, just like this gathering, for us to exchange continuously, to learn and to impact on our football. It’s imperative on all of us to improve the standards in our Premier League, Women’s Premier League and our Division One League.”
“Let’s work, let’s deliver our football in its best possible manner so that the direct consumers of our game – our fans, sponsors, partners, prospective investors and Media partners will be happy with our offering. This should be our collective vision going into the immediate future.” he concluded, amidst applause.
The participants showed great enthusiasm in implementing the system, which is set to become operational in the 2024/2025 Season.
About the CAF Club Licensing Online Platform (CLOP)
CLOP is an electronic tool designed by CAF to oversee the club licensing and stadium inspection process for continental and domestic competitions.
Through the platform, each Member Association is equipped with a fully automated and electronic club licensing process for domestic and continental competitions which allows clubs to archive and submit their Club Licensing documents virtually.
