The Nine Ghanaian youngsters who made it to Glo Soccer Academy house in Legos
Nine Ghanaian teenagers have been named among the final 33 successful candidates from the Benin Republic and Nigeria to graduate into the Glo Soccer Academy following the second round of screening in Lagos, Nigeria at the weekend.
Davis Abagana (14), Samuel Opoku Mensah (14) Abaa Daniel (17), Aminu Murtala (16), Princewilll Owhormeji (14), Annan Klinsmann (15), Charles Addai Danquah (17), Bismarck Larbi (16) and Collins Asare (17), were shortlisted out of an initial all-nation pool of 52 players to which Ghana originally contributed 15 teenagers.
The nine Ghanaians qualified along with 24 other nationals – 4 from the Republic of Benin and 20 from Nigeria. Typically, six of the selected Ghanaian players were midfielders while three distinguished themselves as defenders. There was neither a goalkeeper nor an attacker from Ghana, which had five players from Accra, three from Kumasi and one from Tamale.
The Glo Soccer Academy, celebrated as the sub region’s biggest soccer realty show and talent hunt, opened a six week-long international screening campaign which started in Kumasi in the Ashanti region of Ghana and ended in Lagos with the selection of 52 male youth from the three countries.
The 33 boys shortlisted over the weekend are made up of three goalkeepers, eight defenders, 18 midfielders and four strikers; they will camp and train for one month at the Glo Soccer Academy in Lagos and compete for selection into the Dream Team – final squad of 16 who, apart from a academic scholarships and sumptuous prizes to be won, will be flown to Manchester for a one-long training tour of the Manchester United Soccer School.
One of the final 16 will eventually emerge as the Most Valuable Player (MVP), attracting the ultimate prize of GH¢60,000 (sixty thousand Ghana Cedis). The 14 other players will all receive GH¢12,000 each along with separate academic scholarships and qualification to become Glo Ambassadors among other incentives.
Globacom, the African communications giant launched Glo Soccer Academy in September this year to provide a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for young, untapped soccer talents to kick-start their careers in professional football. The Academy is also a realty show in which thousands of viewers in Ghana, Nigeria and Benin are given the opportunity to participate in the processes of selection and eviction.
A cross-section of the 33 finalist in the Glo Soccer Academy