Beginning with the 2020/2021 season, juvenile clubs in the country will no longer pay officiating fees, Kurt Okraku, the President of the Ghana Football Association has announced.

Speaking at the launch of a new programme aimed at training young referees, Kurt Okraku disclosed that the FA has chosen to foot the cost of refereeing in the lowest tier of Ghana football.

Okraku said that FA has recognized the struggles of the clubs and have decided to step in to relieve them of the burden.

Kurt is hopeful by the time, the new season kicks off, the GFA’s new product would be showing results so that some of the new referees will officiate juvenile matches.

He instructed the Regional Football Associations to track the development of all persons who will sign up for the programme.

“These kids will officiate in juvenile games across the length and breadth of this country. When the juvenile season starts, we should have juveniles being in the middle and on the lines of all juvenile games in this country. We expect that referees committee operating under the RFAs will keep a database of all the referees”.

“From the next juvenile season, juvenile club owners will not be paying officiating fees anymore. This policy will serve as a key grooming and preparatory period for kids to be prepared for the elite level of refereeing in Ghana”, he said.

The ‘Catch Them Young Refereeing’ policy is aimed at identifying and nurturing referees at the young age.

The programme is opened to both male and female from the ages of thirteen to sixteen.