The Mansour Group, the global business enterprise that owns Right to Dream, the community of football academies, football clubs and full-scholarship schools, has announced plans to construct a new Right to Dream Academy near Accra.
The new Academy will be a state-of-the-art, multi-million-dollar facility designed to deliver even better educational and athletic outcomes for RTD Ghana’s nearly 100 students, drawn from Ghana and the surrounding region.
The construction phase of the new facility is scheduled to begin in early 2026. While construction is ongoing, RTD will offer positions to all its existing 127 employees in Ghana and will honour all student-athlete scholarships at a temporary facility near Accra before the new Academy opens, potentially as soon as 2027.
The announcement of a new home for RTD Ghana marks a new chapter in the history of the storied Academy. Since Right to Dream was founded in Ghana in 1999, the organisation has created life-changing opportunities for young people in the country to pursue careers either in football or through international educational programs. The Academy also provides a professional home for the entire Right to Dream family, including world-class educators, coaches, administrators, and staff.
The Academy will be part of the global RTD operation that includes four academies and three professional football clubs on three continents, backed by the Mansour Group, which has operations around the world.
The new facility in Ghana will be the third new RTD academy to be built since RTD was acquired by the Mansour Group’s investment arm, Man Capital LLP, from the then majority owner and founder, Tom Vernon, in a cash-and-stock transaction in 2021.
The Mansour Group has recently invested more than US$180m (GHC 2.23bn) in RTD, including €15m (GHC 217m) in Ghana alone, a new Academy and football club in the USA, infrastructure, staff, student-athlete scholarships and other investments.
Further announcements regarding the location and design of the new Academy will be coming soon. The existing facility in Old Akrade will continue to be owned by Tom Vernon’s foundation, but will not be part of the global RTD group.
The new facility in Ghana follows the construction of new RTD academies in Cairo, Egypt, which was completed in 2023, and San Diego, California, which received its official opening in September 2025. The new RTD academy in San Diego has been hailed by football industry leaders as first in class and one of the best in North America.
At the same time, the number of students, primarily West African, becoming professional footballers or receiving academic scholarships at some of the best schools in the USA, has reached a record high in recent years. And never before has Right to Dream seen so many graduated student-athletes representing their national teams at the highest level of the sport.
For the Mansour Group, chaired by Sir Mohamed Mansour, the distinguished Egyptian-British entrepreneur, investor and philanthropist, the announcement marks an increase in its decades-long investment in Ghana and the Ghanaian people.
Over the last 10 years alone, it is estimated that the Mansour Group has invested and contributed around US$ 600m (GHC 7.23bn) in the country. Mantrac, the group’s Caterpillar machinery dealership, has operated in Ghana since 1997, employs nearly 800 staff across four branches in Ghana, and has trained more than 500 young mechanical engineers since establishing an educational program a decade ago. Mansour Autos and Spare Parts Ghana, the group’s automotive dealership founded in the country in 2014, is considered to be one of the leading companies in the Ghanaian automotive sector, employing more than 70 skilled people across a number of showrooms, workshops and other facilities in Ghana.
Sir Mohamed Mansour, Chairman of Right to Dream: “Ghana, for decades, has been at the heart of the Mansour Group, and Ghana will always be at the heart of Right to Dream. This is where this opportunity-giving program and model was born, and it has always been our ambition to make sure the talented youth, and all our employees, in Ghana have the facilities and home to match their potential and our common vision.
“This is an investment in people and purpose, which will benefit all our students from all over Ghana, their families, their communities, and hopefully give them even bigger opportunities as role models, successful football players, academic scholars, and leaders who make their country proud.”
The announcement has been welcomed by Ghana’s Government.
Hon. Kofi Iddie Adams, Minister for Sports and Recreation: “This partnership builds on a powerful story that has already transformed lives. For years, Mansour Group, through the Right to Dream Academy, has shown what is possible when sport is used as a vehicle for human potential, combining football, education, and character development to shape the next generation of leaders.
“The decision to expand that mission here in Accra and reinforce Ghana’s place as Africa’s hub for football talent is more than an investment; it is a vote of confidence in our nation’s future. It is proof that when vision meets structure, and when passion is matched with purpose, sport becomes far more than a game; it becomes a driver of education, empowerment, and national transformation.
“Government stands ready to build the enabling environment for such partnerships to grow, ensuring that grassroots talent is discovered early, supported deliberately, and developed into a global export that carries Ghana’s name to the highest levels of the sport.”
For more information, please contact Vicky Ndukwe at Burson at [email protected]
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