The curtain has finally come down on Airtel Rising Stars (ARS) Zone Two competition in Tamale with the Upper West Regional male team winning the boys’ competition, whilst the Northern Regional female team picked up the crown for the girls side.

Upper West boys beat their Tamale team A counterparts 9-8 on penalties to win the 2014 Airtel Rising Stars Zone 2 Under-17 male football trophy.

Tamale team A took home a silver medal for coming second, whiles Tamale team B came third and won bronze medal; Upper East came fourth after losing 1-0 to Tamale team B.

In the girls division, Northern Region picked the gold medal leaving Upper East and Upper West to settle for the silver and bronze medals respectively.

The Sales Director of Airtel Ghana, Andrew Adugudaa Akolaa was impressed with the high standard of football skills displayed by the various teams and encouraged the selected players to form the Zonal team to represent Zone 2 at the national finals in Sunyani.

“After watching the various matches played here today, I believe that the teams from Zone 2 stand a real chance of winning at the national tournament in Sunyani. It however depends on the effort they put into training and the faith they have in themselves. I will urge them to believe in the potential which is inherent in them and in every human being who will just believe that they can”, he advised.

Ibrahim Sunday, a member of the Technical Committee also charged the selected teams to work together to ensure that they shine at the national finals.

He said: “I have seen so many talented boys and girls here in the Northern Region. These youngsters had an opportunity to exhibit their skills to the world for the first time in their lives and I applaud Airtel Ghana for offering such a unique platform to these future stars. I envisage that through this initiative, Ghana will realize great stars like the Asamoah Gyans and the Essiens in the nearest future.”

 The team will move to camp to start preparation towards the National Championship which is scheduled in July.

Airtel Rising Stars is Africa’s biggest grassroots soccer development initiative intended to ‘unleash the power of potential’ in Ghanaian youth by discovering and nurturing talented under 17 years male and female footballers who otherwise would have gone unnoticed and untapped.