Ghana national under-17 football team

Infobox National football team
Name = Ghana Under 17
Badge =
FIFA Trigramme = GHA
Nickname = The Black Starlets
Association = Ghana Football Association
Confederation = CAF (Africa)
Coach = flagicon|Ghana Sellas Tetteh
Captain = Paul Addo
pattern_la1=|pattern_b1=|pattern_ra1=|leftarm1=FFFFFF|body1=FFFFFF|rightarm1=FFFFFF|shorts1=FFFFFF|socks1=FFFFFF
pattern_la2=_yellowshoulders|pattern_b2=|pattern_ra2=_yellowshoulders|leftarm2=FF0000|body2=FF0000|rightarm2=FF0000|shorts2=FF0000|socks2=FF0000
First game = fb|Ghana 1 - 1 fb|Nigeria (Accra, Ghana; 10 August, 1986)
Largest win = fb|Ghana 7 - 0 fb|Tunisia (Bamako, Mali; 20 May, 1995)
Largest loss = fb|Angola 3 - 1 fb|Ghana (Gaborone, Botswana; 18 May, 1997) fb|Ghana 0 - 2 fb|Nigeria (Lome, Togo; 17 March, 2007)
Regional name = FIFA U-17 World Cup
Regional cup apps = 8
Regional cup first = 1989
Regional cup best = Winners, 1991, 1995
Regional name = African Under-17 Championship
Regional cup apps = 7
Regional cup first = 1995
Regional cup best = Winners, 1995, 1999

Ghana national U-17 football team known as the "Black Starlets" has been a two-time FIFA U-17 World Cup Champions in 1991 and 1995 and a two-time Runner-up in 1993 and 1997. Ghana has participated in eight of the 12 World Cup events starting with their first in Scotland 1989 through dominating the competition in the 1990’s where at one-time they qualified for 4 consecutive World Cup finals in Italia 1991, Japan 1993, Ecuador 1995 and Egypt 1997 to their most recent participation in South Korea 2007 where they lost the World Cup Semi final 1-2 to Spain in Extra Time.

They have also won the African Under-17 Championship two-times in 1995 and 1999 and were Runners-up in 2005 as well.

uperb young players

The Ghana U-17 national team is known as "The Black Starlets". A couple of Ghana’s U-17 players have won the FIFA Golden Ball award: Nii Odartey Lamptey in [http://www.rsssf.com/miscellaneous/fifa-awards.html#met 1991] and [http://www.rsssf.com/miscellaneous/fifa-awards.html#met Daniel Addo in 1993] . In the 1999 FIFA U-17, Ghanaian striker Ishmael Addo [http://www.rsssf.com/miscellaneous/fifa-awards.html#met won] the Golden Shoe award. Former Ghana U-17 and National Team Coach, Otto Pfister, a FIFA instructor, who led Ghana's U-17 squad to its first World Championship title in 1991, [http://www.fifa.com/en/development/technical/index/0,1250,9630,00.html?articleid=9630 once remarked to FIFA Magazine that "Ghana has superb young players"] . At each of the first four FIFA World Under-17 held, Ghana reached the final each time, winning the title twice and finishing in second place twice. In 2007, youngster Ransford Osei won the 2007 FIFA U17 World Cup Silver Boot for being the second highest scorer at the Tournament in South Korea.

"What makes Ghana's footballers so dominant in their age group?" FIFA Magazine [cite news | date=2001-09-01 | url=http://www.fifa.com/en/development/technical/index/0,1250,9630,00.html?articleid=9630 | title="Superb Young Players" | publisher=fifa.com | accessdate=2001-09-01] asked Otto Pfister. Football is not simply the most popular sport in this part of Africa, it is an absolute religion, he said. This is the way the game is regarded in Ghana, but it is the same in Nigeria too - they also won the U-17 title twice. Young boys here think about football 24 hours a day and play for at least eight - whether on clay, rough fields or dusty streets. They develop their skills naturally, without any specific training, and end up with superb technique and ability on the ball. They are also fast and tricky, and can feint well with their bodies. Africa and South America have by far the best young footballers in the world - on a technical level they are superb. And technique is what it takes to make a good player. "What else goes towards making Ghana so strong?" Otto Pfister continues; In Africa there is often only one way for many young lads to escape from poverty and to make their way up the social scale - football. Youngsters want to become stars and to play in a top European league. That is their main aim and they will do anything to achieve it. Let me give you an example: While I was coaching in Ghana I once told my team to be ready for training at three o'clock in the morning. At half past two they were all assembled and ready to go. They want to learn and they want to play for the national team. They know that in their country a national team player is a hero and enjoys a level of prestige that is not comparable to that in Europe. Another positive point for young players in Ghana is that there are many good coaches in the country who help develop the available talent and above all want to let them play. This policy pays off. [cite news | date=2004-09-17 | url=http://www.fifa.com/en/organisation/index/0,1521,9581,00.html?articleid=9581 | title="Ghana: talented players as far as the eye can see" | publisher=fifa.com | accessdate=2004-09-17] . Today, many Ghanaian youngsters are in G14 Club Academies in Europe.

African U-17 controversies

=2003 U17 Qualifiers= On another note, two controversial incidents in Africa has prevented Ghana from adding to their two African U-17 trophies. On February 14 2003, the Kenya Sports Minister Najib Balala disbanded their National U-17 team, claiming that 40% of the players who eliminated Ghana in the first round had been over-age; he sought to have Ghana re-instated and apologised to FIFA. CAF did not re-instate Ghana, but they did ban Kenya for two years from all CAF's age competition for [http://rsssf.com/tablesa/afr-u17-03.html fielding those over-age players] .

2005 African U-17 Final

On May 23 2005, [http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/SportsArchive/artikel.php?ID=82063 Ghana played Gambia] in the 2005 edition of the African U-17 Championship final. With the game deadlocked at 0-0, a Gambian fan ran from the Stands onto the pitch, entered the Ghana goal area and dove into the net, distracting the Ghana goalkeeper Michael Addo in front of all CAF dignitaries, the Gambian President and a sell-out Stadium. Gambia scored on that play, Ghana protested, but the controversial goal stood and [http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/documents/Ghana-GambiaSoccer.wmv Gambia won their first trophy on that "goal"] .

Current Squad

Goal:
* Joseph Addo (Sekondi Hasaacas F.C.)
* Robert Dabuo (Wa All Stars F.C.)

Defender:
* David Nii Addy (Randers FC)
* Paul Addo (FairPoint)
* Phillip Boampong (Wa All Stars F.C.)
* Isaac Donkor (Sekondi Hasaacas F.C.)
* Baba Sampana (Real Sportive)
* Alex Sowatei (Fetteh Feyenoord)

Midfielder:
* Emmanuel Badu Agyeman (Berekum Arsenal)
* Khalif Alhassan (Liberty Professionals)
* Ishmael Antwi (All Blacks F.C.)
* Seth Appiah (St. Mirren F.C.)
* Samuel Inkoom (Asante Kotoko)
* Hans Kwoffie (Heart of Lions)
* Yaw Luckson (Tema Pro. Sports)
* Jonathan Mensah (Ashanti Gold SC)
* Eric Opoku (King Faisal Babes)
* Godfred Rockson (Heart of Lions)
* Latif Salifu (Liberty Professionals)
* Aziz Tettey (Liberty Professionals)
* Mubarak Wakaso (Elche CF)

Attack:
* Ben Acheampong (All Blacks F.C.)
* Prince Adjei (Liberty Professionals)
* Renelle Agyei (Liberty Professionals)
* Nat Ansah (Great Olympics)
* Ekow Benson (Tema Youth)
* Francis Boadi (Great Olympics)
* Nasiru Gafaru (Wa All Stars F.C.)
* Larbie Koomson (Zaytuna F.C.)
* Ransford Osei (Kessben F.C.)
* Gaani Yahaya (Real Tamale United)

Competitive Record

=FIFA U-17 World Cup Record=

"*Denotes draws including the 1991 & 1999 Semi-Final matches

decided on penalty kicks v Qatar (4-2p) & Brazil (2-4p)."

Team honours

*sport honours|FIFA U-17 World Cup Winners|2| 1991, 1995

*sport honours|FIFA U-17 World Cup Runners-up|2|1993, 1997

*sport honours|African Under-17 Championship Winners|2|1995, 1999

*sport honours|African Under-17 Championship Runners-up|1|2005

Awards

Golden Shoe

ee also

*Ghana national football team
*Ghana national U23 football team
*Ghana national U20 football team

External links

* [http://www.fifa.com/u17worldcup/teams/team=1882397/index.html 2007 U17 World Cup Tournament Page]
* [http://www.ghanafa.org/ Ghana Football Association] - Official website
* [http://discussions.ghanaweb.com/viewforum.php?f=2/ Ghana Football Forum] - Official Fan Forum
* [http://www.ghanaleague.com/ Ghana Premier League website]
* [http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/SportsArchive/ Ghanaweb Sports Page]
* [http://www.rsssf.com/tablesw/wyc16hist.html RSSSF Archive of all FIFA U17 Matches]
* [http://www.rsssf.com/tablesa/afr-u17.html RSSSF Archive of all African U17 Matches]
* [http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/documents/Ghana-GambiaSoccer.wmv 2005 African U17 Final Controversy] Video

Footnotes