To Be Held In Accra And Kumasi This year’s screening for the 3rd MTN Soccer Academy will be held in Accra and Kumasi. Participants from the Southern sector will converge at the University of Ghana Soccer Pitch from Tuesday, August 18 to Sunday, August 23, 2009 while participants in the Northern sector will be screened at the Opoku Ware High School Park, Kumasi from Thursday 20 to Saturday August 22, 2009.

The response to the third edition is overwhelming, with tens of thousands of enthusiastic footballers sending in their names, ages and regions of residence. 60% of respondents from the Southern zone and 40 % from the Northern belts of the country are expected to go through the rigorous screening exercise out of which five (5000) lucky winners will be selected for screening. Of the five thousand (7) seven will fill the vacancies in the Academy House.

To qualify for participation, anyone who plays good football between the ages of 17 and 20 should simply text his name, age and region to MTN Short Code 1951. If chosen, he will receive a Soccer Academy Text Message confirming the date, time and venue for screening. To date, tens of thousand footballers have sent in their SMS to MTN short code 1951. Some lucky ones have received their screening codes, venues and dates. For those who have not been successful can still try to get one of the 10,000 screening places. Participants selected for the screening exercise are expected to bring along their correct identification documents, i.e. Passports, Voter IDs or Birth Certificates as well as their Football Jerseys and Boots to aid in their screening. A participant who due to ill health or any other tangible reason was not screened will be rescheduled for screening at a later date.

Optimum Media Prime (OMP), organizers of the event wishes to assure all participants that contingency plans including Medical Teams with Ambulance services are ready to handle all emergency crisis. There will also be heavy Security presence with men drawn from the Ghana Police Service and OMP’s Private Security Team to maintain Law and Order and ensure free screening. The MTN Soccer Academy Reality TV Show after its two successive editions in 2007/2008 has taken international dimension to explore young talents in Nigeria and will have Lagos State as its screening centre where selected participants across the country will emerge to go through the process.

After screening in both Ghana and Nigeria, seven participants from each country making 14 as finalist will emerge into the MTN Soccer Academy House for 80 days of exciting and competitive soccer reality show.

The winner for this year’s show takes home a Hyundai Tuscon 4 Wheel Drive, One Year Contract with a Local Club in Ghana or Nigeria followed by 14-day trial with an International Club and a Five Star Round Trip to the Opening Ceremony of the FIFA WORLD CUP South Africa 2010.