"Academy is the future" - Baffoe

Accra, July 31, GNA - Tony Baffoe, former Ghanaian international footballer says the creation of soccer academies remain the way to build great football nations.

"Building academies is the way to equip the youth and be sure the generation has strong teams for several years to come". Baffoe told GNA Sports that the need to invest in soccer academies must remain prime on the agenda of any country that hopes to make a global impact in football.

"France was lucky to have seen the need to invest in academy football after they failed to qualify for the 1994 World Cup in US.

"Today they are reaping the fruits of that investment by producing spectacular players dotted all over the big leagues in the world. "With their national teams excelling year after year, I'm sure they will be the first to reckon that academy was and it's still the eye opener".

Baffoe told GNA Sports that Ghana abounds in talent and underscored the need to take advantage of that and build a strong team capable of rocking the world when the global lenses focus on Africa in 2010 when South Africa host the World Cup.

"The Essien's, Appiah's, and Muntari's will not play forever and it takes time to replace such quality players.

"We have a chance to take the world by storm in South Africa in 2010 but all will depend on how much investment we make whilst time allows us".

The former defender of the senior national team, the Black Stars also hammered on the necessity to incorporate education into the academies with the aim of producing all round sportsmen.

"One cannot play soccer forever and after retirement, one must be able to do something and its only education that can offer such an opportunity".