West African Football Academy Sporting Club or WAFA for short, is a Ghanaian professional
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
club based near
Sogakope in the
Volta Region
Volta Region (or Volta) is one of Ghana's sixteen administrative regions, with Ho designated as its capital. It is located west of Republic of Togo and to the east of Lake Volta. Divided into 25 administrative districts, the region is multi- ...
. They are competing in the
Ghana Premier League
The Ghana Premier League is the top professional association football league in Ghana organized by the Ghana Football Association and formed in 1958 to replace a previous league incarnation, the Gold Coast Club Competition which ran from 1933 ...
. The 2016–17 season was a successful one for WAFA as the side finished second in the
Premier League
The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...
, beating
Hearts of Oak 5–0 along the way.
The club was founded in August 2014, as the
Feyenoord Academy in
Goma Fetteh, founded by
Feyenoord
Feyenoord Rotterdam () is a Netherlands, Dutch professional association football, football club based in Rotterdam, which plays in the Eredivisie, the top tier in Dutch football league system, Dutch football. Founded as Wilhelmina in 1908, the ...
from
Rotterdam
Rotterdam ( , ; ; ) is the second-largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city in the Netherlands after the national capital of Amsterdam. It is in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, part of the North S ...
, and
Red Bull Academy near Sogakope were merged.
History
Feyenoord Academy
Feyenoord's chairman
Jorien van den Herik was given permission for the opening of Feyenoord's own football academy in the Ghanaian settlement of
Gomoa Fetteh, just outside the capital
Accra
Accra (; or ''Gaga''; ; Ewe: Gɛ; ) is the capital and largest city of Ghana, located on the southern coast at the Gulf of Guinea, which is part of the Atlantic Ocean. As of 2021 census, the Accra Metropolitan District, , had a population of ...
.
The go-ahead was given by the Chief of Fetteh in 1998 and the academy was opened in October 1999. At Feyenoord Academy, young talented African footballers could work on their football skills. In addition to helping their football potential the students were provided with formal education which was funded by Feyenoord.
The idea for Feyenoord's own football academy was formed in
Abidjan
Abidjan ( , ; N'Ko script, N'ko: ߊߓߌߖߊ߲߬) is the largest city and the former capital of Ivory Coast. As of the Demographics of Ivory Coast, 2021 census, Abidjan's population was 6.3 million, which is 21.5 percent of the overall population ...
.
Van den Herik signed the then still unknown
Bonaventure Kalou and got into contact with the education institute at Kalou's club.
That same year the head of the education institute flew to Africa to take stock of the project and returned with a praising report. In January 1998, Feyenoord started its own Football School in Africa.
was the first player that graduated from the academy and achieved a professional contract at Feyenoord.
Red Bull Ghana
Founded in 2008, the academy associated with the team has gone on to produce coaches and players alike. The team reached the second highest league in Ghana in 2009. Red Bull Ghana was relegated to Division Two in 2013.
Merger
In August 2014, Feyenoord Academy was rebranded to the name West African Football Academy. In the same year, the club took over the old Red Bull Academy near Sogakope and moved from their old location in Gomoa Fetteh to this new location in the Volta Region.
Current squad
Academy
Club captains
*
Jordan Opoku (2003) (2005–06)
*
Gideon Waja (2016–2017)
*
Mohammed Alhassan (2017–2018)
*
Ibrahim Abukari (2019–)
Managerial history
* Saddiq Abubakari (2018)
*
Prosper Nartey Ogum (2020–2021)
Gallery
image:WAFA - Entrance to the sports complex.jpg,
image:WAFA - Main pitch and scoreboard.jpg,
image:WAFA - Main pitch and stands.jpg,
image:WAFA - Players bus.jpg,
Seasons
2020 -21 West African Football Academy season
References
External links
*
{{Ghana Premier League
Football clubs in Ghana
2014 establishments in Ghana
Football academies in Africa
Volta Region
Association football clubs established in 2014