Africa-Press – Ghana. Amahoro Coalition, in partnership with Samaritan Group and with the support of the Ghana Refugee Board and Challenges Ghana, has organised a day’s Refugee Football Scouting Tournament at the Borteyman Sports Complex in Accra
The Refugee Football Tournament used football as a vehicle for social inclusion, youth talent development, and sustainable livelihood pathways for young refugees in Ghana.
The tournament provided a structured platform to identify outstanding football talent within refugee communities and connect promising players with development and professional opportunities locally and internationally.
Mr Tetteh Padi, Executive Secretary of the Ghana Refugee Board, said the Board supports any activity that enhances the well-being of refugees.
He said the Board was also very interested in anything that leads to livelihoods for refugees.
The Executive Secretary said the Refugee Football Scouting Tournament was an activity that could lead to livelihoods for talents that were spotted here and developed to go on and engage in very meaningful football.
“Now, we also ensure that refugees have access to anything that gives them opportunity to find employment. And that is one of the reasons why we are supporting the Scouting Tournament,” he said.
Mr Padi said that sports foster hope and unity among society, and clearly, the refugees were part of society.
He said using sports to bring refugees together was something that the Board would certainly support.
“It is very important that we make refugees feel a part of us. And giving them this opportunity to identify talent and go on to develop that talent, for me, is something that we certainly must give our support to,” he added.
Mr Isaac Kwaku Fokuo Jnr, Founder of Amahoro Coalition, said the idea was to organise the Scouting Tournament yearly to unearth talents from the refugee communities.
He said football was a good opportunity for many people, providing a source of livelihood and opportunities for young people to showcase their talent and support their families and communities.
“And above all that, it gets people off the streets, gets kids out of trouble, and it’s something that we’re very committed to doing,” he added.
Mr Fokuo Jnr. said their goal was to provide opportunities and a platform for these young boys and girls to have the opportunity to bring their talents together.
“All we do is that we bring private sector actors, people that we know, people that we get in touch with and people who are committed,” he said.
He said their big vision was to be able to organise a refugee tournament, because they were very interested in developing talents across the continent.
He said doing these events like this across the African continent, identifying and unearthing young men and women who were very talented.
Nana Yaw Amponsah, CEO of Samaritan Group, said the idea was to give these young kids an opportunity and take them off the streets, adding that “l believes that giving them something to channel their energy to is very important.”
He said personally, he was going to give two very talented once opportunities in his club abroad to develop their talents.
Nana Amposah said, psychologically and everything, “we need to embrace these young ones and help them integrate properly into our country.”
“The idea is to integrate some of the very talented ones into the Ghanaian football ecosystem,” he added.
Didi Dramani, Hearts Oak Coach, Najahu Issah, Hearts Goalkeepers Coach, Abdulai Gazale, Assistant Coach, Fatau Dauda and Emmanuel Agyeman Badu, both former Black Stars Footballers, were present to support the organisers.
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