Accra-Ghana, Nov. 04, GNA – The Indomie Under-13 Football tournament, which is being organised in partnership with the Ghana Education Service, ends today at the Madina Sports Complex.
The four-day tournament is aimed to unearth football talent and promote the sports at the basic level of education.
In all, 32 teams from some basic schools in the Greater Accra Region are participating in the 2022 event, including eight female football teams.
They include Kotobabi, Anumle, Achimota Basic School, Martin Luther, Ashaiman, Gbawe Experimental, Awopedc, God Gift, Grace Beacon, Teshie Camp 2, and Harmony Basic School.
The winner would take home a trophy, cash prize of GHc6, 000, and Indomie products worth GHC4, 000.
As part of the programme, there were officials from the Ghana Football Association to scout for players as part of its ‘Catch Them Young’ programme.
The Regional Physical Education Director for the Greater Accra of the Ghana Education Service, Malcom Frimpong, said during the opening that GES was proud to be associated with the programme.
He said GES placed great emphasis on such programmes because it was through such events that future football talents were harnessed for the national team.
Mr Frimpong urged the participating teams to work hard to win the trophy, and pledged that GES would collaborate with Indomie to expand the programme across the country.
The Greater Accra Chairman of the Ghana Football Association, Samuel Aboabiri, in his remarks, expressed gratitude to Indomie for sponsoring the programme.
He said, he was happy the programme had started from the Greater Accra Region to promote football at the basic level.
Mr Aboabiri entreated Indomie to expand the league to the regions of the country, so football talents could be unearthed across the country.
“This programme is very important and should be encouraged because it can produce a lot talents and players for the National Team,” he said.
Former Black Stars Player, John Painstsil urged the players not to demean themselves, but have confidence, they could play to any level they wanted.
He said they could become the future starts of the country, if they worked hard Mr Painstsil urged the pupils to be disciplined, demonstrate love, tolerance, and respect, stressing that “if you don’t respect your opponents, they can hurt you.”
Akshay Karla, the Marketing Manager of Indomie, in an interview with the Ghanaian Times, said the programme was meant to promote football at the basic level of education.
He said the programme, also formed part of the company corporate social investment, to help unearth talent for the National Team.
Mr Karla said management was considering expanding the programme to other regions of the country.
He said the tournament would provide opportunity of the pupils to showcase their football talents.
