Chief of Odumse donates land for Polo Football Academy
The Chief of Odumse, Nene Fiesu Gblie III, has honoured former Accra Hearts of Oak and Black Stars legend, Mohammed Ahmed Polo, with a 13.17-acre land for the construction of an academy in the community.
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The donation is meant to inspire Polo to unearth and develop the potentials of the youth to adapt to Ghana’s brand of entertaining (agoro) football.
According to Polo, the land will be used to construct two astro turfs, four-storey hostels with 40 rooms, a reception as well as a hostel manager’s office and wash rooms.
The project will also include three administration blocks, a conference room, a research centre, a gym, boardroom and other facilities that will enhance the smooth operation of the academy such as training, marketing and promotion, statistics, counselling and ICT departments, three-storey classroom block, headmaster and assistant headmaster’s offices and staff common rooms.
Academy project
Speaking to the Daily Graphic in an interview, Polo said having acquired the land which was close to Dodowa in the Shai Osudoku District, his passion to build a football academy to unearth and nurture the potential of the youth with the view of re-introducing Ghana’s brand of football to battle for honours at the elite level was on course.
“I highly appreciate the gesture of Nene Gblie for such an important land. It is my hope that it would help me to leave a befitting legacy as one of the football legends who exhibited flair, artistry, creativity and confidence on the field of play during my hey day.
“With this project, my dream to transfer the brilliance I exhibited to the next generation to take football to the international level will be realised,” added Polo, winner of the 1978 Africa Cup o fNatrions.
He expressed his gratitude to Nene Gblie III for honouring him with such a vast land, noting that Ghana is blessed with many talents who will easily adapt to his techniques and tactics and take the world by storm when the academy comes to fruition.
He was hopeful that investors desiring to support the development of Ghana’s brand of football would partner him to build the academy to speed up the transfer of skills to the youth.
“Ghana has been struggling to be competitive at the international level over the years because we have completely lost the glamour of our brand of football that won us honours some decades ago,” he bemoaned.
Polo insisted that, instead of relying on foreign expertise which has changed the Ghanaian style of football, the time has come to change the foreign style into typical Ghanaian ‘agoro’ football to make Ghana competitive again at the international level.