GFA to mandate clubs to include youth players in teams for matchdays

Mr. Kurt Edwin Simeon-Okraku, the President of the Ghana Football Association (GFA) has announced that starting from the 2025-26 football season, teams will be required to include U-19 players in their matchday squads.

According to him, the initiative dubbed “Power to the Youth” was to encourage clubs in the Premier League, Division One teams and Women Premier league to pay attention to young players.

Addressing delegates at the 30th Ordinary Congress of the GFA, at the Ghanaman Soccer Centre of Excellence in Prampram, Mr. Okraku stated that one way of getting exciting players in local football was to invest in youth football.

“We would therefore be looking at instituting policies that support clubs developing talents in a very competitive way.

“Beginning in the season 2025–26, we would be looking at introducing a policy where every Premier League club would have a minimum of four U-19 players in their matchday squad.

“For the Division 1 league, we would be looking at a policy of each matchday squad having a minimum of six U-19 players in the squads with at least three starting.

“At the Division 2 level, we are looking at each matchday squad having a minimum of eight U-19 players in matchday squads with at least four starting.

He also announced that they intend to introduce age capping in the Women’s Premier League and Women’s Division One competitions.

Mr. Okraku also revealed some policies that have been initiated to enhance youth development, including the training of about 1,600 young referees and the introduction of the novel Elite National Girls U15 Challenge Cup, among others.