On 16 October 2025, the Mansour Group announced a multi-million-dollar Right to Dream academy near Accra, with construction scheduled to start in early 2026. It was the clearest signal yet that Ghana's most famous football academy is changing address, not direction. For any family searching for a football academy in Ghana, that move frames everything else. Start there.
| Question | Short answer |
|---|---|
| Best-known academy | Right to Dream, founded in Accra in 1999, based at Old Akrade on the Volta since 2010 |
| Is it still active? | Yes. Scholarships continue at a temporary site near Accra while a new campus is built |
| Famous graduates | Mohammed Kudus, Kamaldeen Sulemana, David Accam, Princess Marfo |
| European link | FC Nordsjaelland in Denmark, part of the same group |
| New in Accra | BVB International Academy Ghana, opened February 2026 at Achimota School |
| Kumasi option | GFA Elite Academy at Prempeh College |
| Fees | Not published by any academy covered here |
Right to Dream: from Accra to Old Akrade and back
Right to Dream began in Accra in 1999 under Tom Vernon, described by the academy as a former Manchester United scout in Africa. In 2010 it moved to Old Akrade, a village on the Volta River in the Eastern Region. Capacity rose from 40 to more than 100 student-athletes aged 11 to 18. Akrade, not Akrobi.
The model is what Modern Ghana called “books and boots”: full scholarships, schooling and elite coaching under one roof.
That is the part Nigerian parents tend to miss. No fees.
Right to Dream does not publish fees, because players are scouted and placed on scholarship rather than enrolled on payment. Nobody buys a place. Its own review of 2025 says more than 100 graduates have won academic scholarships to schools in the United States and the United Kingdom. Eight did it in 2025, a record. It also took Best Academy at the Globe Soccer Awards.
The new campus is the big story. Graphic Online reported that all 127 Ghana staff will be kept. Scholarships continue at a temporary facility near Accra while building goes on, and the new doors could open in 2027. Michael Essien, who works with players at the academy, was blunt about why it matters: “As a kid, I never had the opportunities Right to Dream is offering now.”
The Nordsjaelland pathway and the Kudus effect
Mohammed Kudus is the advert every academy in West Africa wishes it had. Flashscore traced his route: identified at Right to Dream, two seasons at FC Nordsjaelland, two and a half at Ajax, then West Ham in 2023. Then came the big one.
In July 2025 Tottenham signed him on a six-year deal, and 3News reported a fee of about 55 million pounds, which would make him the most expensive Ghanaian player ever, ahead of Thomas Partey, although the clubs did not confirm the figure. Ghana noticed.
Nordsjaelland is the bridge. Modern Ghana describes a linked club system tying Right to Dream to the Danish club and to San Diego FC. The American side reached the Western Conference final in its first MLS season. Kamaldeen Sulemana, who joined Atalanta in 2025 according to the academy, walked a similar road. So did Princess Marfo. She was the first Right to Dream graduate to reach Nordsjaelland's senior women's team. David Accam was there almost from the start: “I was part of the first generations coming through the Right to Dream academy in Ghana,” he told Modern Ghana. You can see where some of these graduates sit financially in our list of the richest footballers in Ghana.
Accra and Kumasi: the newer doors
Dortmund are the newcomers. Borussia Dortmund opened BVB International Academy Ghana in February 2026, its first academy in Africa, at Achimota School in Accra and in partnership with Accra Shooting Stars FC. The club says it takes boys and girls aged 6 to 18, with recreational and elite streams, and enrolment for the first cohort was open at launch, but no fee schedule has been made public.
“Every child's football journey is different,” academy director Teddy Hiadzi said at the launch.
The Ghana Football Association has built its own network. Kumasi is part of it. Its Elite Academies sit at Prempeh College in Kumasi, Bolgatanga Senior High School in the north and Achimota School in Accra, each one combining formal schooling with structured daily football training for the selected players. In December 2025 the GFA said all three were active, after 17 players from Greater Accra, Eastern and Volta enrolled at the southern site. The Kumasi and Bolgatanga sides played the Elite U15 Colts Championship at Prampram in August 2025. Entry is through the GFA talent identification programme, whose 2026 final phase was held in the north on 7 August, not through an application fee.
Our view: what it means for Nigeria
We found no published figures on Nigerian players enrolled at these Ghanaian academies, so any claim of a cross-border rush would be guesswork. The useful comparison is structural. Ghana's best-known routes are scholarship or federation schemes, scouted rather than paid for, and tied to schools. Free, yes. Easy, no.
Nigerian families who want something closer to home can compare with what we found on a football academy in Abuja and our list of football academies in Lagos, and anyone weighing a move further south can read our guide to the football academy in South Africa scene.
One warning. If anybody asks for money to guarantee a Right to Dream trial or a GFA Elite Academy place, walk away, because neither publishes a paid entry route.
This article was most recently revised and updated 31 seconds ago
