Ghana is in line to reap the benefits of FIFA’s Talent Development Scheme (TDS) which aims to establish an elite talent development academy to foster the development of technical players and close the gap between the various countries.
Arsène Wenger, the Chief of FIFA’s Global Football Development, made this announcement at the FIFA Football Summit in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia in 2023.
As a result, FIFA has distributed USD 28 million in funds worldwide to give the youth development program the assistance it needs.
By the end of 2027, the gesture would be extended to all 211 Member Associations (MAs), as per his statement that was posted on FIFA.com.
Additionally, FIFA has already sent 24 coaches to support the discovery of talented players to countries like Ghana, Malawi, Zambia, Côte d’Ivoire, Benin, and Liberia in order to give a strong technical foundation for the development of these academies.
“We need specialised eyes to go in there and help to identify the talent because we want to give the importance to intelligence, to technique, to the technical level.Basically, we want to develop a technically perfect player. That means no matter what, we want to make the ball your friend. No matter where it comes from, it is welcome. And that means we want to equip the players to deal with every situation they will face in football. And that is technique. We are firstly a technical sport – we never want to forget that.”
“We have many private academies in the world, but unfortunately many children with talent cannot have access to these private academies, because you have to pay to get in. We want, everywhere in the world, that every talent in the world can go and play football for free. And that’s why this is a very important criteria for us to get the FIFA Academy label to be free access for every single person.” Professor Arsene Wenger added.
