By The Bridge News 
Minister backs rising club with GH¢5,000 as Kalibi positions itself as a vehicle for youth development and regional growth
Kalibi Sporting Club’s historic qualification for the 2026/2027 Universal Merchant Bank (UMB) Division One League is being seen not only as a major sporting achievement for the Upper West Region, but also as an emerging opportunity to use football to create pathways for youth development, employment, business and regional visibility.
The club’s rise was highlighted when its management paid a courtesy call on the Upper West Regional Minister, Hon. Charles Lwanga Puozuing Esq., in Wa to formally announce its promotion and outline preparations for its maiden Division One campaign.
In response, the Minister made a personal donation of GH¢5,000 to support the club and assured the management of the support of the Upper West Regional Coordinating Council.
The delegation was led by the Club’s Vice President, Mr. Evans Kula Fawaz, while Head Coach Mr. John Kandumah used the occasion to brief the Minister on the team’s journey, its promotion and preparations for the new season.
A club built from the ground up
Kalibi Sporting Club is a relatively young institution, but its rapid rise has been striking.
The club traces its beginnings to 2021, when it was established with the ambition of creating a professional football platform through which young talents in the Upper West Region could develop and pursue careers in sport. It entered competitive football in 2022 before making its first major breakthrough in 2023, when it went unbeaten in the Upper West Division Three League to secure promotion to Division Two.
The momentum continued in Division Two, where the club won the Dr. Rev. Fr. Camilio Bonsuri Jubilee Cup in 2024. Kalibi also embarked on what it describes as a landmark 10-day training tour in Accra, providing its players with exposure to higher-level training, competitive matches and scouting opportunities.
The club has subsequently expanded beyond football, developing interests in volleyball, athletics and handball, reinforcing its ambition to become a broader sporting institution rather than a single-discipline football club.
Its promotion to Division One therefore represents another step in an unusually rapid rise from grassroots football to the national stage.
More than football
For the Upper West Region, the significance of Kalibi’s achievement extends beyond league tables and match results.
The region has long faced challenges in creating sufficient opportunities for young people and in converting its considerable human potential into sustainable economic activity. The Regional Coordinating Council itself identifies human-resource development and poverty reduction as central development priorities, while pointing to tourism, trade and other sectors as important avenues for regional economic growth.
A professionally managed sporting industry can complement those efforts.
A successful Division One club can generate demand for players, coaches, physiotherapists, medical personnel, sports journalists, photographers, security personnel, kit suppliers, transport operators, caterers and other service providers. Match days can also create opportunities for small businesses selling food, drinks, merchandise and other products.
For young people in particular, the club can provide a structured pathway in which football is not merely recreational but potentially a route into professional sport, coaching, administration, sports medicine, media and entrepreneurship.
That makes Kalibi’s development relevant to the wider conversation about the socio-economic transformation of the Upper West Region.
A platform for regional identity
The club also offers the region an additional platform for national visibility.
Kalibi’s recent engagements demonstrate an ambition to position the club beyond the Upper West. During its pre-season activities in Accra, the club paid a courtesy call on Speaker of Parliament Rt. Hon. Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, where its management presented its long-term vision of developing young talent from the region for national and international competition. The Speaker subsequently contributed GH¢20,000 towards the club’s pre-season activities.
Such support suggests that the club is increasingly being viewed as part of a broader regional development story.
For a region whose identity is strongly tied to its culture, history and festivals—including the Kalibi Festival of Sankana—the sporting club also carries a name with a strong regional identity. The Upper West Regional Coordinating Council lists the Kalibi Festival among the region’s important festivals and recognises tourism as having significant economic potential.
Minister calls for discipline
Hon. Puozuing congratulated the management, technical team and playing body for their achievement and urged the players to approach Division One with discipline, determination and commitment.
Drawing from his own football experience as a former player of Kabanye Stars and a member of the University of Ghana team that won the 2007 West African University Games (WAUG), the Minister stressed the importance of discipline in building sustainable football careers.
His message was particularly relevant as Kalibi moves into a more competitive environment where financial pressures, greater expectations and increased exposure will accompany the club’s promotion.
The challenge ahead
The promotion is, however, only the beginning.
Division One football will require stronger financing, deeper squad depth, improved logistics, professional administration, quality technical preparation and sustained institutional and corporate support.
For Kalibi, the immediate challenge will be to translate its remarkable rise into a sustainable sporting model.
For the Upper West Region, the bigger question is whether the momentum around the club can be converted into a long-term sports economy—one that keeps talented young people engaged, attracts private investment, creates employment and gives the region a stronger presence on Ghana’s sporting map.
Kalibi Sporting Club’s journey from its establishment in 2021 to Division One in 2026 has already demonstrated what determined grassroots investment can produce. Its maiden Division One campaign now offers the club—and the Upper West Region—an opportunity to prove that football can be more than a game. It can become a platform for talent, enterprise, employment, identity and regional development.
Ishmael Junourgh