{"id":99316,"date":"2025-10-19T21:05:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-19T21:05:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=99316"},"modified":"2025-10-19T21:05:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-19T21:05:07","slug":"from-graduate-to-advocate-accam-applauds-mansours-investment-in-right-to-dream-ghana","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=99316","title":{"rendered":"From graduate to advocate: Accam applauds Mansour\u2019s investment in Right to Dream Ghana"},"content":{"rendered":"
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David Accam has backed the Mansour Group\u2019s plan to build a new world-class Right to Dream (RTD) Academy near Accra, calling it a landmark for Ghanaian youth development.<\/p>\n

The former Ghana winger, himself an RTD graduate, said the project will lift both education and football standards for the next generation.<\/p>\n

The facility\u2014set to break ground in early 2026\u2014will host over 100 student-athletes and replace the Old Akrade base, with all scholarships honoured during a temporary relocation in the Accra area.<\/p>\n

Government has welcomed the investment, which forms part of the Mansour Group\u2019s wider backing for RTD\u2019s global network of academies and clubs.<\/p>\n

Since acquiring RTD in 2021 through Man Capital, the Group has invested over US$180m, opening new academies in Cairo and San Diego and strengthening pathways to professional football and academic scholarships.<\/p>\n

Accam, who rose from RTD to Europe with Helsingborg and later starred in Major League Soccer for Chicago Fire and Philadelphia Union, framed the new build as the product of two decades of steady growth he watched from the inside.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was part of the first generations coming through the Right to Dream academy in Ghana. Though I am grateful for the opportunity that changed my life, I am also aware, that the students and kids in the program today are benefitting from the progress the organization has made over the years since I started,\u201d he said, reflecting on the academy\u2019s evolution.<\/p>\n

He added that RTD\u2019s expansion\u2014more students, a deeper academic pathway and a linked club system through FC Nordsjaelland and the US franchise\u2014makes the Accra project a logical next step.<\/p>\n

\u201cI watched it grow with more kids, more opportunities, educational pathway, and the growing network of clubs and schools. And now the next step is ready to be taken with the commitment from the Mansour family to build a great new facility for the Right to Dream students and staff. It makes me happy and even more hopeful for the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

Founded in 1999, RTD\u2019s \u201cbooks and boots\u201d model couples full scholarships with elite coaching, producing professionals and scholars in equal measure.
Alumni now dot senior national teams and top leagues, with recent Black Stars call-ups underscoring the pipeline\u2019s strength.<\/p>\n

The new Ghana campus will consolidate classrooms, dormitories, performance labs and training pitches on one site, giving students the kind of infrastructure that has underpinned RTD\u2019s newer hubs in Egypt and the United States.<\/p>\n

While construction proceeds, the academy has pledged to retain its 127 Ghana-based staff and maintain all student support.<\/p>\n

For Accam, the significance extends beyond first-team football to the wider impact on the men\u2019s and women\u2019s national programmes and the academy\u2019s coaching ecosystem.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo see how Right to Dream has impacted our Black Stars and Queens, from where it started to where it is today, is mind-blowing, but not a surprise to me. I\u2019m sure there\u2019s more to come. And it\u2019s not just about players,\u201d he noted, arguing that the upgraded facilities will deepen the talent pool across the board.<\/p>\n

He pointed to the growing cadre of RTD alumni moving into leadership roles as coaches and educators\u2014evidence, he said, that the system now reproduces excellence well beyond its original remit.<\/p>\n

\u201cI see many of my former friends and brothers from the academy who today are coaches \u2013 both at the RTD academy but also in clubs and abroad. The future looks bright,\u201d Accam added, positioning the Accra project as a long-term bet on Ghanaian expertise.<\/p>\n

The Mansour Group, chaired by Sir Mohamed Mansour, has paired the RTD investment with long-standing commitments in Ghana\u2019s economy through Mantrac, its Caterpillar dealership, and a nationwide automotive network.<\/p>\n

Officials have framed the new academy as part of a broader push to align sport, education and industry training\u2014an approach the government says will keep more talent on structured pathways.<\/p>\n

RTD, for its part, says the build will tighten links across its four academies and three professional clubs, ensuring Ghana remains central to its global map.<\/p>\n

Accam\u2019s message is ultimately about opportunity multiplied: a modern home that widens access, strengthens academics and sharpens performance, while keeping community values intact.<\/p>\n

For an alumnus who turned a scholarship into a professional career and Black Stars caps, the calculation is simple\u2014this is how you create more life-changing stories, faster and at scale.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"FromDavid Accam has backed the Mansour Group\u2019s plan to build a new world-class Right to Dream (RTD) Academy near Accra, calling it a landmark for Ghanaian youth development. The former Ghana winger, himself an RTD graduate, said the project will lift both education and football standards for the next generation. The facility\u2014set to break ground [\u2026]<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_2277560469115098_106292521332774":"","twitter_aToxNzczMzI3Njk4OTg4ODUxMjAxOw==_1773327698988851200":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[137,10,9,10718,11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-99316","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-football","category-politics","category-popular","category-right-to-dream-academy","category-sports"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99316","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=99316"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99316\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=99316"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=99316"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=99316"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}