Henry Asante Twum, the Communications Director for the Ghana Football Association, has underscored the strategic importance of the Black Starlets' participation in the 4-Nations tournament in Russia.
Twum stressed that exposing Ghana's U-17 team to such high-level competition is vital for their development.
Despite a loss to Russia, the U-17 side has upcoming matches against Kazakhstan and Serbia in the coming days.
Twum believes these opportunities will sharpen the team’s competitive edge before their return to Ghana.
He emphasized that this exposure is part of their preparations for the WAFU ZONE B U17 Cup of Nations.
Their ultimate goal is to qualify for the U-17 AFCON, a feat Ghana narrowly missed out on in the past two editions.
"For this team, the majority of them come from the KGL under-17 with the championship we organised," he told Citi Sports.
"We did two club competitions, and later we organised the regional championship in Kumasi, we had coaches present to select some players, some of the players have already played in the Premier League, some from Legon City, some from Accra Lions, some from Great Olympics, and so I think the exposure, you know, they have began to gather it in bits.
"As we host the tournament, our ambition is that we host and win, then qualify for AFCON, because like you rightly said, we have not qualified since 2017 at the under-17.
"This time round, we won’t go a step further, so say we go qualify for Africa," he added.
In the WAFU Zone B Championship, Ghana have been housed in Group A alongside Benin and Ivory Coast.