Ex-Ghana international Michael Essien has hailed the Mansour Group’s decision to fund a new, world-class Right to Dream (RTD) Academy near Accra, calling it a landmark investment in Ghana’s next generation.
The former Black Stars midfielder, now on the coaching staff at FC Nordsjaelland, RTD’s European partner club, said the project will strengthen the model that pairs elite football with rigorous schooling.
The Mansour Group, owners of Right to Dream, plans to break ground in early 2026 and operate a temporary site, ensuring that every student-athlete and staff member continues uninterrupted until the new campus opens, potentially in 2027.
Government has welcomed the move, describing it as a vote of confidence in Ghana’s youth and a boost to the country’s status as a hub for African talent.
“As a kid, I never had the opportunities Right to Dream is offering now. I had to find my own way, and it wasn’t easy. What Right to Dream is doing is a gift to the youth and future of Ghana, especially because academic education is such a big part of the program alongside the football,” said Essien, who works daily with academy graduates at Nordsjaelland.
The new multi-million-dollar facility will serve nearly 100 student-athletes from Ghana and the region, expanding a pathway that has existed since RTD was founded in 1999: education plus football, with outcomes that include professional contracts and scholarships at top schools in the United States.
Since acquiring RTD in 2021, the Mansour Group has invested more than US$180m across the network, around €15m in Ghana alone, while adding new academies in Cairo (opened 2023) and San Diego (opened 2025).
The Ghana project becomes the next major step in a global system now spanning four academies and three professional clubs on three continents.
"And since the Mansour family took over the pledges and commitment to the students have only expanded. The new academy plans and investment in Ghana is a massive statement and will improve Right to Dream’s Ghanaian program even further in the years to come," Essien added.
Right to Dream says all 127 Ghana-based employees will be retained during construction and that every scholarship will be honoured at the temporary Accra-area site.
Alumni from Ghana continue to push into senior football and national teams, while others leverage the academy’s classroom standards into academic scholarships abroad, outcomes the new campus aims to scale.
Essien, whose own career took him from Liberty Professionals to Bastia, Lyon, Chelsea and Real Madrid before a successful international career with the Black Stars, framed the project through the lens of opportunity he says he never had at youth level.
"I work with the young people and players coming through the academy on and off the pitch every day. It gives me great joy to help them develop further and assist them in reaching the next steps of their future with endless potential.
"I see many of them grow every day in Denmark, pushed by their teammates from other parts of RTD’s global community, and I know they all have the opportunity, talent, and dream to make their families and Ghana proud.”
For the Mansour Group, whose wider footprint in Ghana includes Mantrac (Caterpillar) and Mansour Autos, the academy underscores a decades-long presence in the country.
The Group estimates US$600m in investment over the past decade across operations and training initiatives, including programmes that have developed hundreds of young engineers.
RTD’s San Diego campus has already been described by industry observers as a North American benchmark, underlining the standard Ghana can expect when the Accra-area facility opens.
Sports authorities in Accra say the new campus complements national goals around grassroots talent identification and education.
The Ministry of Sports and Recreation has positioned the project as a catalyst for more public-private partnerships that align performance on the pitch with outcomes in the classroom and the community.
For Essien, the value is both personal and national. He argues the academy’s pairing of books and boots gives young Ghanaians multiple routes to succeed, whether as professionals in Europe and Africa, or as scholarship students turned future leaders.
With construction set to begin in early 2026 and a temporary base ensuring continuity, the former Ghana star believes the next wave is already forming.
And if his experience at Nordsjaelland is any guide, the platform will only grow. “This is a gift,” he said.
“And it’s one that will keep giving to Ghana’s future.”
