By Francis Ofori
Accra, May 17, GNA – The Ghana Football Association (GFA) has launched its football school project to provide capacity-building training and education for administrators in all aspects of the football ecosystem.
The partnership would see some renowned public institutions including the University of Ghana, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, University of Professional
Studies, GIMPA, Sunyani Technical University, and the China Europe International Business School (CEIBS) Africa to include football-related courses in their curriculum.
The GFA in past years organised training and workshops for football administrators and coaches to build their knowledge in Football administration.
Speaking at the launch, Mr. Kurt Edwin Simeone-Okraku, President of GFA said the project had been on the radar of the association over the past years to impact individuals and society through football.
“We need to provide the platform for people to be educated in a very affordable way in all facets of the football system. We have football managers who lack knowledge in football management that is why the GFA Football School overly excites me,” he said.
According to him, GFA had in previous years encouraged clubs to engage professionals who would be responsible for niche areas like Sports Marketing, Football Marketing, and other fields.
He noted that most clubs do not have the right people in managing their affairs, hence the need to see the project as an opportunity for club owners and administrators to educate themselves.
“We would partner with institutions who already may be running football-related courses, but we would provide the practical content for such institutions. For those institutions who are not already offering the training, we would also bring content and together we would run the training,” the GFA President urged.
Mr. Simeone-Okraku highlighted the football body’s commitment to also support former footballers to have a career pathway through the initiative.
He said certificates from the Ghana Football School would be the only recognised certificate under the club licensing.
Mr Bernard Lippert, Technical Director of GFA also said “We are lacking in all areas of football and the GFA School would cover merchandising, communication, and others to bring our football to a different level.”
Heads of various institutions also shared their excitement about partnering with the GFA to help develop sports in the country.
GNA