Stephen Appiah, Michael Essien and John Mensah are some of Ghana’s star names enjoying the limelight and prominence in Europe but those players amongst many of the country’s fine players did not become stars overnight.

They came through Ghana’s tough youth system.

In a country where football rules with unrelenting passion, those players like many came to world prominence the hard and co-ordinated names.

On the streets of Accra and virtually every corner of the country kids play football sometimes in organized format, sometimes just for the fun of it.

They play in the colts league on an area basis but football is embedded in the Ghanaian and it is not long before the best talent are spotted by the national team handlers.

They go through all sorts of screening before merging into the national U-17 side. Such talents over the past decade have handed Ghana two World and African titles in the under-17 division.

A considerable number of the players in the senior national team have been through that level.

Stephen Appiah was a member of the World Cup winning squad in 1995, Essien played for Ghana at that level in 1997 and Samuel Osei Kufuor was a member of the first World Cup winning squad in 1991.

There are many others who have represented Ghana at other levels of youth football.

There are some strong believers in Ghana’s youth system and the talent of Ghanaian players including none other than the great Pele.

As Pele pointed out sometime back, Ghana would be the first African nation to win the World Cup.

The revered world soccer great obsessed with the flair of Ghana at the youth level, challenged the rest of the world to wait for the country clad in the red, yellow, green with the black star in the middle to make their World Cup debut.

Pele was appeared spot on with his assessment of Ghana’s chances.

It wasn’t exactly a fulfillment of Pele’s prophecy but the country’s showing at the world cup in Germany went in some way in justifying the hype.

Ghana making her debut at the big stage won plaudits from the football world with an attractive brand of football that the youth system has been noted for down the years.

Ghana were more than a match for the World’s top sides and eventually left the world stage at the last sixteen stage thanks to a combination of poor refereeing and defensive naivety.

Given youth football’s contribution to that rousing success in Germany, it is no wonder that at the South-East Ridge headquarters of the Ghana Football Association offices, FA President Kwesi Nyantakyi, has a bias for youth football.

Nyantakyi still under 40 years is very youthful indeed and it tells in his 4-year blueprint for the development of the game which dwells heavily on youth.

Nyantakyi has been impressed with the Black Stars, the senior team’s performances though he appears baffled with the FIFA/Coca-Cola ranking which shows a downward slide by the team.

Yet still, he never gets carried away by the World Cup success and is finding more reason in that to prop up the junior teams.

“The height that the Black Stars have attained can only be maintained with a strong foundation in youth football. That is why the U-17, U-20 and U-23 teams are very important, he says.

“Youth development is the cornerstone of the current administration. Effective 2007, we will organize district and regional competitions for U-12, U-15 and U-17 boys and U-13, U-16 and U-19 for girls,” he said.

“The national Youth Festival, which shall become a permanent feature of our national football calendar will take place as the platform for unearthing talents at the grassroots,” the FA president added.

Clearly, there would be a shift in policy as academic excellence would be imbibed into the very foundations of the development process.

Also the new move would end the nation wide perennial scouting for players to form the core of the national youth sides.

“We plan to form a national soccer academy at Prampram where these young boys and girls will combine schooling with football and be systematically groomed into stars in the future.

“That exercise will put a full stop to the perennial but useful exercise of touring the length and breadth of this country on an annual basis to identify talents for the U-17 team.

“When this exercise succeeds, Ghana will have a pool of talents that will serve as the reservoir for the replenishment of talents from the junior to the senior national teams. Our exploits such as the 2006 World Cup will not be a flash in the pan but a continuous and sustainable feature of our football,” Nyantakyi said.

But huge financial injection is required for Ghana to really get these projects off the ground. The FA President recognizes this view and believes corporate support is the only key for this sustainable project.

“Ghana is now more serious than ever in the development of youth football. That enterprise would require a huge capital outlay. I am happy to announce that some corporate bodies have expressed interest to partner us to prosecute this agenda.

“We need more support and will particularly like to work with anybody whose objectives include building a strong Black Stars from grassroots youth development.”

Another set of World stars are spread across the length and breadth of the country waiting to be tapped and harnessed.

Ghana certainly needs support to polish these rough diamonds.