2025 KGL U-17 Championship reaches semi-finals on Thursday

The 2025 KGL U-17 Inter-Regional Championship enters the knockout stage on Thursday, September 25, with two exciting semi-final fixtures scheduled at the Ghanaman Soccer Centre of Excellence in Prampram.

Group A winners, Greater Accra Region, will take on Ashanti Region, the runners-up from Group B, in the opening semi-final.

That match will be followed by a clash between Central Region, who topped Group B, and defending champions Western Region, who finished second in Group A. 

Both matches will determine who earns a coveted place in the grand finale set for Saturday, September 27, at the McDan Astro Turf in Teshie, Accra.

Now in its 5th edition, the tournament has grown into Ghana’s premier platform for identifying and nurturing young football talent. The 2025 edition kicked off last Saturday, September 20, with a record 12 participating teams.

Originally launched in 2021 as a competition for regional colts champions, the format evolved in 2023 to feature selected U-17 players representing the 10 Regional Football Associations (RFAs).

This year, the inclusion of two GFA Elite Academies expanded the field to 12 teams, boosting both the tournament's competitive level and national reach.

Mal FC of Greater Accra won the maiden edition of the inter-club competition after beating then Greater Accra regional champions Desidero FC whilst also Accra based Great Corinthians defeated Tamale Republicans to win the second edition in 2022.

When the competition evolved into the Elite Regional Players format, Ashanti Regional U-17 beat Bono Ahafo Region on penalties to clinch the title in a thrilling fashion in Kumasi in 2023 whilst Western Region beat Eastern 2-1 in last year's final in Prampram.

Joe Salam Abubakar, Vice Chairman of the KGL Regional U-17 Colts Championship stressed the importance of the competition to Ghana’s football ecosystem to the Graphic Sports during a visit to the tournament grounds in Prampram on Tuesday.

“We review the competition year after year to ensure that the main objective — talent development — is achieved. We want to identify young players and continue the production line," he said.

“The passion is high, and any player here can easily feature in the Premier League. If this momentum continues, Ghana football will reap the benefits. Already, several players from past editions have joined Premier League clubs, strengthening the future of the game,” he affirmed.

With its reputation growing by the year, having produced players who have successfully made the leap into top-flight football both home and abroad as well as to the benefit of national youth teams, the 2025 edition has been nothing short of remarkable with young players putting up outstanding performances during the group stages where all teams played 5 matches each in their section, with the top 2 in each group advancing to the medal zone.

Greater Accra emerged the most outstanding team of the group stages with 14 points following a flawless run, after winning 4 of their 5 games in normal time and the other on penalties, without conceding a single goal.

The host region began their campaign with a 2-0 win over Northern Region on match day one, defeated Western Region 8-7 on penalties following a goalless stalemate in their second game on Sunday before Philip Amponsah's lone strike secured the three points over Upper West on match day 3 last Monday.

2-0 victories over Volta on Tuesday and Elite Academy Bolga in the final group game on Wednesday sealed Greater Accra's dominance to finish on 14 points, 3 clear of Western, the defending champions who also remain unbeaten in regulation time following 3 wins and two draws, one of which they won on penalties.

In Group B, Central Region thumped Greater Accra Elite B 3-1 on Wednesday to win the section 3 points ahead of Ashanti Region who totaled 9 points from 3 wins and two losses, including inflicting Central's only defeat so far, 3-1 on match day 2.

Central began with a 3-2 win over Brong Ahafo on Saturday and also beat Upper West 2-1 on match day 3 Monday as well as Eastern 2-0 on Tuesday. Ashanti's other wins meanwhile came against Brong Ahafo, 3-0 on day 3 and 2-1 over Upper East in the final group game on Wednesday following shock losses to Eastern Region (1-3) on opening day and 0-2 to Greater Accra Elite B on day 4.

Now the stage is set for expected thrilling matches in the semi final which kicks off with the crunch Greater Accra versus Ashanti tie, followed by Central's quest to halt Western's bid to become the first to defend the prestigious title.

The winners advance to the championship game on Saturday September 27, 2025 at the McDan Astro Turf in Teshie, preceded by a curtain raiser between the two losing finalists for 3rd and 4th place.