West African academicals soccer tournament to be instituted

Volta Aluminium Company (VALCO) is to institute a sub regional academicals' soccer competition to be the bedrock for unearthing talented high school students for their various national teams.

At a press briefing in Accra on Thursday 25 October 2001, Dr Charles Mensah, Country Director of VALCO, said his company has began discussions with Togo and Benin, and an emissary would soon be sent to Cote d' Ivoire, Burkina Faso and Guinea to solicit their participation.

Dr Mensah said already Nigeria has joined Ghana to ‘form the nucleus of the programme, which has manifested in the annual two-legged competition between the two countries’.

He said the academicals soccer, which was revived about three years ago, is yielding good results as players like Sulley Muntari of Italian club Udinese, the Asante Kotoko duo of Ofosu Appiah, and Emmanuel Ayisi and Mustapha Esuman both of Liberty Professionals are making steady progress toward stardom.

The Resident Director said VALCO has committed 300 million cedis towards the organisation of the Fourth Edition, which gets underway at the Accra Sports Stadium on Monday 29 October 2001.

He disclosed that 24 million cedis would go into prize money while 150 million cedis would be used in the provision of kits such as jerseys and boots. The overall winner would take away five million cedis; the first runner-up, four million cedis while the second runner-up take home three million cedis. There would also be cash consolation prizes for other participants.

At the end of the tournament, 24 players would be selected for camping in preparation for an encounter against Nigeria in March 2002.

Dr Mensah said his company is liasing with the National Sports Council (NSC), the Ghana Football Association (GFA) and the Ghana Education Service (GES) to ensure that the programme achieves its objectives.

Outlining this year's tournament, Mr Benedictus Dzokoto, Coordinator of Physical Education Programmes of the Ghana Education Service said mechanisms have been put in place to ensure that, all schools field only children within the stipulated age limit.

This year's tournament would involve Bolgatanga Secondary School, Upper East Region; Aggrey Memorial Secondary School, Cape Coast; and Saint John's Secondary School, Western Region, in Group A. Asanteman

Secondary School, Ashanti Region, Takoradi Secondary School, Western Region, and Tamale Secondary School, Northern Region, will constitute Group B.