Seventeen-year-old Adongo Angelous Akurugu, a product of the ‘Catch Them Young Refereeing Project,’ has been selected as one of the referees for the upcoming CAF African Schools Football Championship.

Adongo, who hails from Navrongo in the Upper East Region of Ghana, is a student at Navrongo Senior High School.

Since his discovery through the ‘Catch Them Young Refereeing Project,’ Adongo has officiated in juvenile competitions, including the KGL U-17 tournament, the Division One League Super Cup at Abrankese (2023), and Nsoatre (2024).

Aside from that, he also officiated in the WAFU Africa Schools Championship Qualifiers in Niger last year and the quarterfinal of the 2024/25 MTN FA Cup game between Attram De Visser and PAC Academy at the Baba Yara Sports Stadium in Kumasi.

Akurugu is a star in the making, having excelled in all the competitions he has participated in.

The 2025 African Schools Football Championship is scheduled to take place in Accra from April 21-26, 2025.

 “It takes a lot of time to get experience, and once you have it, you ought to go on using it,” an American Physiologist, Benjamin Minge Duggar, once said.

Such may be the story of Black Stars and Nations FC defender, Razak Simpson, who scored a classic goal to hand Accra Hearts of Oak a painful 1-0 defeat in their Ghana Premier League match at Kasoa last week.

Despite a vast experience in the game locally, Simpson was not going to be accounted among the best 10 defenders from the current season.

However, his stock made an upward turn the moment he caught the attention of national team selectors. Currently, it would be impossible to leave Simpson out of the best five defenders in the local league.

Yes, that is what it means to look for experience and continue to use it when it is acquired.

In their outstanding Ghana Premier League (GPL) match day 21 fixture at the Tuba Park, Simpson scored a screamer for Nations FC.

It is definitely a goal-of-the-season contender, and speaks volumes of the experience he has acquired from his brief association with the Black Stars.

This is the exact impact expected to see from a local star that gets the chance to ‘dine’ with the ‘big’ boys.

And for the impact, he is beginning to improve his performances in the league, it should be encouraging enough for the selectors to look for more local talents in a bid to improve the local standard.

In the aforementioned match, Simpson broke the deadlock in the 57th minute when he beautifully controlled ball on the chest and riffled straight into the net. It left everyone, including the Hearts players, stunned.

This was evident in the manner the goal was celebrated. And right after the game, he was mobbed by both players and fans as if the goal was just scored.

Assuredly, these are some of the confident performances fans want to see in the game but how would that happen when the players lack the bigger platforms and exposures only the Black Stars offer.

For few fans, Simpson’s name may sound new in the ear because he did not get the chance to feature for Hearts of Oak, Asante Kotoko or Great Olympics, the major traditional sides in Ghana.

However, this is a player that started his career with Elite Soccer Academy and introduced to the elite game in July 2019 when he was signed by Ashanti Gold on a five-year deal.

Two years on, he joined Liberty Professionals on loan until the end of the season.

He also had a stint with WAFA; incidentally tasting relegation with all of them until Nations FC offered another lifeline to the top and finally, his light shone.

Now with the Black Stars, Simpson is considered one of the top performers in the local game and showed his class with the picturesque goal against the Phobians.

One thing has become very clear under Coach Otto Addo in the helm of affairs of the Black Stars.

Interestingly, almost all the invites to local chaps have seen them transformed into instant hits. When Jerry Afriyie was given the opportunity on his debut against Niger, he scored the only goal for the Black Stars as Kudus Mohammed wasted a penalty chance to score again.

Then came Simpson, who was invited for the last two encounters for the failed AFCON bid and also played for a few minutes in the World qualifiers.

On Benjamin Asare’s debut, he became the first choice goalkeeper of the Black Stars, keeping two clean sheets in games against Chad and Madagascar.

Currently, he remains the Black Stars first choice goalkeeper, hoping to see an improvement in performance to remain at the top.

Surprisingly, a section of fans kept deliberating whether Simpson’s strike could have beaten Asare in goal. Obviously, these are some of the discussions that would drive fans to the stadium to get the answers for themselves.

But how could that happen if the local players are ignored. Now that Afriyie, Asare and Simpson have opened the door, observers would watch to see what happens next.

By Andrew Nortey