Laryea Kingston urges government to invest in grassroots football

Former Black Stars winger and midfielder Laryea Kingston is calling on the government to channel more resources to the development of colts football in Ghana.

In his observation, colts football or grassroots football has a lot of potential if given the attention it deserves. He believes colts football is the backbone of Ghana’s future football, citing himself as an example of a product of colts football.

The former Black Stars winger spoke to TV3 in Bolgatanga while scouting for young players to who will play a football match against Chelsea FC.

Dubbed “Be the Next Champion”, the campaign is a partnership with the English football club Chelsea, a skills competition aimed at choosing a Ghanaian representative to be part of the African XI team to play against Chelsea legends.

The selected footballer will spend a day training with Chelsea coaches at the club’s training ground in Cobham while a lucky fan gets to win a Chelsea dream to watch the Blues train and also meet at the Cobham Training Centre.

Led by Laryea Kingston, the “Be the Next Champion’’ campaign made a first stop in the Upper West region where two players were selected to represent the region after series of soccer drills.

The second region he visited was the Upper East Region where two out of 35 footballers aged between 11 and 17 years were also selected to represent the region in Accra later this year for the final selection.

As the person in charge of the players selection, Laryea Kingston said he is highly impressed with the general performance of the footballers. He said selecting only two players as required was challenging because the footballers have demonstrated great talent.

He commended the efforts of the coaches in the region for a good work done on the young players.

“I’m impressed with what I have seen from these boys in the region which I think the future is bright for Ghana football and the coaches in this region are committed” he said.

Laryea Kingston hinted that every player who qualifies for the finals in Accra will have the opportunity to be scouted by FIFA player agents and Chelsea FC officials.

He also reiterated his call on the government to put much effort in developing grassroots football.