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Grassroots football is the way out for Ghana -- Nyantakyi
He opined that young talents being recruited at the colts and youth level would serve as the foundation of Ghana soccer urging stakeholders and corporate society to invest in it.
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Mr Nyantakyi stressed the need for football academies and clubs to harness the potential of new talents and hone their skills to meet the demands of the markets and the nation.
“Football is now a huge business market and I admonish young talents to take the sport seriously and earn their fortunes by learning and playing it better,” he noted.
He challenged young footballers to take their education seriously adding that a mixture of education and soccer was the best for any youth of today.
Mr Nyantakyi made these remarks as a guest at the launch of the Besiktas Football Academy football season and awards ceremony at the Muslim Youth Training Centre at Kawukudi in Accra last Saturday.
Ten players were awarded, including George Tetteh, who took the award for the Discovery of the Year, Raphael Aryee-Best Defender, Bernard Kwabena Otabil-Most Committed Player of the Year and Hashimi Hussein, Most Devoted Player of the Year.
The rest are Mariam Dandam as Women’s Player of the Year, Dashiaku Abdulai Lanzari as Men’s Player of the Year and Ismael Dede as the Most Promising Player of the Year.
George Tetteh was honoured as the Discovery of the Year with other prizes going to the best juvenile players at the Under-10, Under-13, Under-15 and Under-17 categories.
Mr Mohammed Aminu Lenient Dauda, the founder and CEO of Besiktas Football Academy, stated that the club was formed in 1999 to groom and hone the skills of talents in the Zongos and other deprived areas.
“Currently we have boys and girls’ Under-10, Under-13, Under-15 and Under-17 sides and we also have men and women’s division one and two sides,” he stated.
He revealed that the team had formed partnership with Turkish based Besiktas Football Club that offered support for the team and disclosed that the team was working very hard to get to the middle league.
Mr Lenient Dauda appealed to corporate entities for support saying the academy was currently serving as a source of employment for the youth in Nima and Maamobi.