A FIFA-sponsored standard Astroturf pitch has been commissioned in Winkongo of the Talensi District in the Upper East Region. A little over $1 million dollars project which was assessed from FIFA projects 1.0 and 2.0 was commissioned on Friday, June 23, 2023, by the Ghana Football Association (GFA) President Kurt E.S Okraku, the Upper East Regional Minister Stephen Yakubu, Paramount Chief of the Talensi Traditional Area, Tongo-Raana Kolbilsong Namalteng, the Winkongo Chief and representative from the Ministry of sports Mr. Horen Kofi Quashigah, Upper East Regional Football Association Chairman Salifu Shaibu Zida and some other football people. Speaking at the commissioning of the standard Artificial Turf and Technical Center Phase One/ Sod Cutting Ceremony for Changing Rooms phase two, the GFA President said, “FA recognizes that there are a lot of talents in schools, it also recognizes the need for us to make a bold statement to our students that they can also learn and pursue their football dreams and therefore, the vision of the FA is to set up an Academies in the northern part of Ghana. The first one in the northern part of Ghana will be set up here in the Upper East”. According to him, what that means is that, the FA will scout talents in the JHS system and specifically JHS 3 that will be in the category of boys and girls who will be getting ready to go to SHS and the topmost talent from all the regions in the northern region will be brought here in BIGBOSS. “So, BIGBOSS will be their school, and they will study and learn football. We will do the same in the middle belt specifically the Ashanti region and we will also do the third one in the Great Accra region”. In the second phase, we are going to see the construction of the changing room and then, when that is done we will announce the third phase which will include the construction of the office space. GFA President stated Speaking about the benefits that await the people of the Upper East Region, the GFA President said, the Upper East has the potential to produce a lot more super talents and perhaps a lot more of Abedi Ayew Pelles if and only if we support our youth with first-class football infrastructure. “It is very true that there is a shortage of first-class football infrastructure in this part of our country. Just by way of statistics, we have seen one club qualify from Division 2 to Division 1 and what that means is that, in the Upper East Region, we have one first-Division club, in the Upper East Region, we have 24-second Division club, in the Upper East Region we have 21 third Division clubs and in the Upper East Region, we have 7 women Division 1 league clubs and most importantly, in this part of our country, we have 84 juvenile clubs”. He stated that all the football clubs he mentioned above do deserve first-class football infrastructure. Stressing that, “it is the only way as a country we can develop a lot more sports talents to represent our country at various levels of football ecosystem”. The GFA President further expressed his satisfaction, with the effort of the BIGBOSS Secondary School, which came through the effort of the Chief of Winkongo, through the effort of the paramount chief of the Talensi Traditional Area, for their role in the magnificent edifice been given out for public use and for the football community. He said, the decision to come to the Upper East was not too difficult for the hardworking executive committee of the Football Association. “Indeed, we have 16 political regions in this country, we have 10 football regions in this country and the question is why did we choose Upper East? What is so important is when we approached the Upper East, they opened their arm to welcome Ghana Football Association to bring this amazing investment to this part of our country”. “It took a hardworking staff of the Football Association led by the Secretary to work closely with FIFA governance to ensure that we take all the boxes and most importantly to ensure that FIFA would agree for this investment to take place here”. “The football pitch that we see in front of us cost Ghana Football Association a little over $1 million dollars. This money was assessed from what we call FIFA Project 1.0 and 2.0. The little over a million dollars includes all the taxes and demurrage taxes that were paid to ensure we deliver this project in quality and on time”. He said “What we are witnessing today, represents phase 1 of our project. The vision of the Football Association is to invest and continue to invest on this soil for us to establish what we call the Technical center of our Football Association”. However, the GFA President revealed that currently, the entire Football Association (FA) has only one center and it is situated in Accra in Prampram, the intention of your FA is to replicate it here on this soil. “So, for this phase of the project, we have a FIFA standard Astroturf full-size pitch, we have a standby generator that will power the light, and two goal posts the coaches will use but beyond these, we will cut the sod for the construction of changing rooms that will allow our boys and girls to change and offer themselves to their coaches to be trained”. He said View some pictures below: Source: Apexnewsgh.com/Ghana For publication please kindly contact us on 0256336062 or Email: apexnewsgh@gmail.com