By: Kwame Bediako
President of the Ghana Football Association (GFA), Kurt Edwin Simeon-Okraku, led a delegation of Executive Council members to pay a courtesy visit to Malik Basintale, Chief Executive Officer of the Youth Employment Agency (YEA), on Tuesday, July 29, 2025. The meeting, held at the YEA offices, focused on exploring strategic partnerships to support youth development and deepen collaboration between the two institutions.
During the engagement, the leaders discussed key areas of mutual interest, including financial support for football clubs with particular emphasis on women’s football as well as leveraging the sport as a powerful tool for youth empowerment and employment.
Kurt Okraku highlighted the support YEA offered women’s football during the COVID-19 pandemic, which marked the first time many female players received monthly stipends, reflecting a milestone in backing women’s sports in Ghana.
“The Football Association and your good selves have a history, at least in my term as President of the Ghana Football Association. During the COVID era, YEA supported women’s football, and that was the first time in the lives of many of our female footballers to earn money at the end of every month,” he said.
Emphasizing the natural synergy between the GFA and YEA, Okraku pointed out that both organizations operate within the youth development ecosystem, presenting opportunities in refereeing, coaching, and football administration fields that provide vital employment avenues for young Ghanaians.
He cited the recent triumph of the Black Queens at the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) as an inspiring demonstration of youth potential that the partnership could further harness.
President Okraku expressed enthusiasm about the collaboration’s future impact on Ghanaian youth, stating his commitment to forging stronger ties with YEA. “I came here with a strong team to explore the opportunities that exist between our two entities in this strategic space that we occupy,” he stated.
In response, YEA CEO Malik Basintale welcomed the GFA delegation and confirmed his agency’s readiness to deepen cooperation with the Football Association.
“I’ve engaged the President of the GFA on ways of exploring opportunities for the youth of our nation. We are determined to leave a legacy of impacting society before we bow out at some point in our lives. The YEA and the GFA have a longstanding relationship, and we’ll seek to build on it,” Malik Basintale mentioned.
The meeting included GFA Executive Council members Nana Sarfo Oduro, Eugene Noel Nobel, Samuel Aboabire, and Gideon Fosu, marking a promising chapter in strategic youth empowerment.
