Youth and Sports Minister, Hon. Nii Lantey Vanderpuije, has made a strong case for the revival of Ghana’s grass root football also known as Colts Football with a national approach to groom, nurture and monitor juvenile football talents.

This, he identified, would go a long way to ensure that Ghana benefits fully from its talented footballers.

The minister was speaking at the official launch of the 2016 Milo U-13 Champions League on Friday at the Ghana Television (GTV) studios.

The ceremony was graced by several sports personalities including ex-Black Stars captain Stephen Appiah, who has also been assigned as a Brand Icon for the competition.

“We need to give priority to youth development through sports mentorships in all disciplines, including athletics, boxing and others while we also work on the mental attitude of our sports men and women,” Hon. Nii Lantey Vanderpuije emphasised.

The 2016 edition of the Milo Champions League (MCL) is the 5th edition which is organized for schools across the 10 regions of Ghana.

The MCL is an annually organized by Nestle Ghana Limited through its Nutritious brand MILO.

The competition is organized in partnership with the Ghana Education Service (GES) and aims at unearthing talents and creating the platform for competitive sport among school children at the grass root level.

In a recorded video, GFA President Kwesi Nyantakyi assured Nestle Ghana and the GES of his continued support for the development of young football talents through Juvenile competitions of this nature.

The selected teams to play have been grouped into four zones with the winner and first runner-up of every zone qualifying to the finals which comes off in mid June.

Bepong Kwahu Methodist JHS in the Eastern Region are the defending Champions of the Milo U13 Champions League after they defeated Combone R/C JSS from Sogakope 2-0 last year which was hosted at the Paa Joe Park in Kumasi.

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