Female football coaches and administrators dominated the list of participants that turned up on Monday for the opening of the six-day programme for Women's Football in the country.
Deputy Sports Minister Nii Nortey Dua together with members of the Ghana Football Association and FIFA course instructor Roman Hangerter officially opened the FIFA-sponsored football Basic Level Coaching programme at the Ghanaman Soccer Centre of Excellence in Prampram.
The Basic Level course, the first to be held on the continent is part of FIFA's development plan for the continent - 'Win in Africa with Africa' - which attempts at providing the continent with the tools to progress and the skills with which it can continue its own development.
Ghana has made giant strides in the women's game over the years but FIFA course instructor Roman Hangerter told www.ghanafa.org that the sport is more than being played on the field as more work has to be done all levels.
"Fifa chose Ghana as the first African country to train women as coaches because they [Ghana] have led the way for the other countries but Ghana was the first to apply and Fifa responded to it.
"This is just the basic level of the course and as time goes on there would be more courses organized to help the coaches get much knowledge about coaching.
"The course is being organized in order to give both tactical and technical knowledge to the coaches so I think they are going to benefit much from that and also I expect them to exhibit their talent with what they have been taught both tactical and technical and also in planning and evaluation," Hangerter said.
For Hangerter, the development of the game at the women's level is all about the interest and believes serious work at the grassroots could bridge the gap with that of the men's competition in some years to come.
"The problem with women football in Africa is similar to that of Europe because there are less female players who participate in women football and also children with ages like 6 years and above need to be brought on board and also be trained to become professional players.
"It's interesting to see young girls take to the sport at such early years. Once we attract them then we can look at having a successful progression of players at all levels.
"But the key to this is also the personnel who need to work with the kids. That's why such courses remain a key ingredient in the development agenda of the game.
"It would be interesting to see female coaches and administrative personnel take up top positions in the male competition. But we need to sustain their interest and improve on their knowledge first. It's wonderful to see the commitment of women here [Ghana] and I expect to see a major transformation in some years to come."
Trainees who shared their expectation insist that they hope to improve their knowledge of the game and rival their male colleagues at all levels of the game.
The training programme which opened on Monday October 3, 2010 will run till October 9, 2010.