The Ghana Football Association have held meetings with their counterparts from the Saudi Arabian Football Federation on Women’s football development and refereeing.
The meeting involved office of the Technical Directorate and the Referees departments of the two Federations.
This follows a Memorandum of Understanding that was signed by the two entities in December 2022 to provide a framework for collaboration across all areas, from grassroots to elite football, including Youth and Women’s football. The deal is also committed to organizing training and exchange programs for key areas related to coaching, refereeing and administrative matters.
Referees Manager of the Ghana Football Association Alex Kotey led the discussion on refereeing. In attendance were President Kurt Edwin Simeon-Okraku and General Secretary Prosper Harrison Addo (Esq). Others included Technical Director Bernhard Lippert, Chairperson of the Referees Appointment Committee Christine Zigah and Director of Communications Henry Asante Twum.
Referees Manager Farkhad Abdullaev and Chairman of the Referees Committee Manuel Navarro represented the Saudi Arabian Football Federation.
Areas discussed included the enhancement of the Catch Them Young Refereeing Policy, procedure for the recruitment of referees, Training and supply of equipment for the implementation of the Video Assistant Referee, otherwise known as (VAR), training, support for referees and Instructors, production of local Teaching materials aside those provided by CAF and FIFA among others.
President of the Ghana Football Association Kurt Edwin Simeon-Okraku thanked the Saudi Arabia Football Federation for the partnership and called on both entities to maximize the opportunity.
‘’This relationship has come in handy and as the leader of this family, I would like to call on both ends to make good use of this opportunity to develop the sport that all love’’ he said.
‘’Today, we stand to exchange ideas and build capacities in different sectors of the industry and I am extremely excited about this collaboration’’
‘’The various units within the Ghana Football Association would take useful lessons from this relationship for the good of the industry’’ President Simeon-Okraku added.
The Ghana – Saudi Arabia partnership aims to develop strong relations between the two Federations to help in the promotion, growth and success of football at all levels.