Accra, March 8, GNA - The Chief Executive Officer of the newly commissioned Tamale Utrecht Football Academy, (TUFA) Abdulai Alhassan has said that the decision to establish the Academy in the Northern regional capital is to use football as a tool for promoting peace and eradicate poverty in the Region.

Briefing the GNA Sports in Accra, Alhassan said the Academy which is being financed by the owner of Utrecht FC, Holland, Frans Van Seumeren, is aimed at providing the youth in the Region between the ages of 14-21 years with the opportunity to develop their football talents whilst acquiring social skills for the future.

Alhassan said that the Academy is presently using equipment of FC Utrecht to signal the strong partnership between the two institutions. According to Alhassan, the Project is expected to also help forestall constant migration of the youth from the north parts to the south in search of non-existing jobs, adding that TUFA therefore aims at providing the platform for the youth develop their talents in the Region.

He said the Northern Region has over the years' being denied the opportunity to 91own' an Academy worth its salt since all concentration have been in the southern sector thereby denying the youth with the opportunity to developing their talents.

Alhassan said players of the Academy will not only be trained in football but provided with alternative careers through education in order to prepare them adequately for the future.

"We believe that not all the players at TUFA will make it to the top hence the need to create other avenues for them to explore and prepare them for the future". He stated.

He indicated that players of the Academy will also be used as peer educators in the Region to promote peace and project the image of the Region.

The CEO said that they have acquired a 13 hectare land at Kasalgu, a suburb of Tamale for the development of a full scale Academy, which will include modern facilities in the near future. Alhassan is confident that the Academy will serve as a conducive base for producing quality footballers for the nation and the international market. TUFA, which is currently under construction, would be equipped with a gymnasium, two football pitches, 2,000 capacity training park, hostels to accommodate about 40 people, cafeteria, a swimming pool, managers' residence and classroom blocks. 09 March 2011