Prosper Ogum calls for more competent coaches at grassroots level

Head coach of Ghana's National Men's Under-17 Football Team, the Black Starlets, Dr Prosper Narteh Ogum, has called for more competent, quality coaches to be assigned to the youth level.

Speaking on the sidelines of the 32nd Ghana Football Association Ordinary Congress held at the Ghanaman Soccer Centre of Excellence, Dr Ogum stressed the need to strengthen grassroots coaching development in Ghana.

His comments come at a time of conflicting results from Ghana's youth teams. While the Under-17 and Under-20 women's teams have both qualified for the World Cup in their respective age categories, the men's teams have struggled. The Black Starlets have not qualified for the U-17 World Cup since 2017, while the Black Satellites' last appearance was in 2015.

Dr Ogum highlighted the importance of having well-equipped coaches at the grassroots level to address this issue.

"As far as the youth system is concerned, I think we need more competent, quality, qualified coaches at the grassroots. Unfortunately, we don't have them there," he said.

"Those who are at the grassroots are those who have passion for the game, and some of them even have no licence. I don't think it is the best for our football. We need to strengthen our grassroots coaching development programme."

For now, Dr Ogum will continue his work with the Black Starlets, hoping to lead the team back to the World Cup stage. But his message to the GFA is clear: without investment in grassroots coaching, Ghana's youth teams will continue to struggle.

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