He was honoured for his immense contribution towards football development in Ghana through the establishment of state-of-the-art AstroTurfs in communi­ties across the country.

Robert Tetteh Coleman (middle) receiving a citation at the programme

A citation accompanying the award read in part, “Wembley Sports Construction, a name that has become synonymous with the building of world class AstroTurfs across the country. Your ‘One Constituency, One Astroturf’ drive is the reason many communities and youth of this country have a place to hone their skills.

“You have provided, and contin­ue to do so, a critical infrastructure need that takes many of the youth out of the street and in to a facility that shapes them for a better fu­ture. With this Thumbs Up Award, the Board of the Ghana Football Awards says you deserve every push to reach the very top,” Board Chair of the GFA Karl Tufuoh said.

Mr Coleman speaking after the award expressed his appreciation for the recognition and the gesture extended to him by the organisers of the Ghana Football Awards.

“I am very grateful for this award and this is a testament that an indigenous company is able to establish state-of-the-art sporting infrastructure that meets interna­tional standards. I would like to also thank my entire team and staff that has worked with me through­out the years, I am immensely grateful to them for their relenting support,” Mr Coleman expressed.

“We have been able to construct about 350,000sq metres of Astro­Turfs across the country and this testament to our service delivery for football development for Gha­na, he added.

He further called for more support from relevant agencies towards the construction of more sporting facilities, infrastructure which could be used for multi-pur­pose activities such as recreation for kids and children, funerals and other social gatherings.

As part of efforts to improve and maintain sports inclusion and harness talents in the country, Wembley Sports has currently con­structed four artificial pitches in Kotobabi, Dzorwulu, Accra Acad­emy and Nungua. This adds up to the numerous pitches constructed by the firm under the ‘One Dis­trict, One AstroTurf’ initiative.

The company which is credited for constructing close to 50 out of the 100 AstroTurfs is the only one in Ghana which has been validated and approved by FIFA.

Wembley Sports has further or­ganised training sessions and boot camps aimed at equipping both internal and external partners on the standards required to construct an AstroTurfs.