The Ghana Football Association formally opened a new chapter in the country’s grassroots game on Tuesday, 15 September 2026, when it launched the 2026/27 Colts Football League at the Ghanaman Soccer Centre of Excellence in Prampram.
The ceremony, attended by regional football association chairmen, members of the National Juvenile Committee, Executive Council officials and other stakeholders, marked the sixth consecutive season of the revived competition and underscored the association’s determination to keep the historic talent pipeline functioning even as public debate about its health intensified.
GFA President Kurt Edwin Simeon-Okraku used the occasion to answer recent remarks by President John Dramani Mahama, who had publicly asked what had become of the once-vibrant Colts system that produced generations of Black Stars. Okraku noted the coincidence of timing with a light touch, suggesting that the Head of State’s comments arrived just as the association prepared to put the league back in the spotlight.
He then set out a record he said demonstrated six years of sustained work rather than neglect. The Colts structure, he reminded the gathering, had been resurrected in 2019 with the KGL Foundation taking the lead, and it has operated continuously ever since.
Today 859 clubs are registered and active across the country, while more than 600 coaches have completed training programmes in the past three years. For the first time the association has also established a structured Under-15 girls’ Colts league, extending the same developmental pathway to young female players.
The launch was accompanied by a substantial logistical package designed to ease the daily burdens faced by volunteer-run clubs. In partnership with Hoshi International, marketers of X1 Energy Drink, the GFA announced the distribution of 3,000 footballs, 15,000 jerseys and 15,000 pairs of casual shoes. Each participating club will additionally receive ten footballs and two sets of bibs every season for the next three years.
These donations sit on top of the association’s existing annual commitment of US$100,000 for the purchase of balls for grassroots football. Player registration fees have been waived, and clubs may now obtain digital licences for up to ninety players—thirty each in the Under-13, Under-15 and Under-17 categories—removing a significant administrative and financial obstacle. The KGL Foundation’s sponsorship continues to include scholarships for players who combine football excellence with strong academic performance.
Asamoah Gyan, serving as National Team and Colts Football Ambassador, described the competition as the foundation of Ghanaian football and welcomed the renewed political attention. He recalled watching the President speak about juvenile football the previous week and said the remarks aligned with conversations he had already held with Okraku about restoring public enthusiasm for the Colts game.
Gyan pledged to work closely with the association to revive that enthusiasm, noting that the same system had once identified talents such as Abedi Pele, Michael Essien and himself.
Practical difficulties nevertheless remain acute. Okraku appealed directly to government for free access to state-owned astroturf pitches, pointing out that many traditional community grounds have disappeared under commercial development.
Club owners now routinely pay between GH¢500 and GH¢1,500 simply to hire a pitch for ninety minutes, a cost that is unsustainable for most grassroots outfits. With more than a thousand Colts clubs in existence, the shortage of affordable playing surfaces threatens to undermine the very structure the association is trying to strengthen. Okraku expressed confidence that President Mahama’s stated interest in the subject would lead to a favourable response.
The 2026/27 season therefore begins against a backdrop of both expanded official support and lingering infrastructural strain. By combining equipment donations, fee waivers, coach education, a new girls’ competition and continued sponsorship, the Ghana Football Association has sought to demonstrate that Colts football is not a relic but a living, if still imperfect, engine for identifying and nurturing the next generation of players.