If you have been on social media in the last few days, chances are that you have seen a viral video of young Ajax Amsterdam officials at the Obuasi Len Clay Stadium on a scouting mission.

The video was shot in the year 2000 (some of the players refer to the year 1999 as their date of completing Junior Secondary School).

In the video, veteran coach Anthony Edusei and some scouts of Dutch giants Ajax Amsterdam are seen physically examining players ostensibly to select them for the Ajax academy.

While the video initially stoked nostalgic feelings, it has since been followed by criticism from people over the method of selection, with some critics even going as far as drawing links between the process and how slaves were chosen during the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade.

But why were Ajax in Ghana in the first place? 

Long before the Gomoah Fetteh Feyenoord and Liberty Professionals Academies earned global acclaim, the Sam Otchere Academy was the reference point for well-run football factories in Ghana.

It was well-resourced and managed by the best brains in the country. Project manager Kojo Nunoo saw to that.

Their first notable managerial appointment was Sief Ronde (while Hans Van Der Pluijm managed the senior team). Later, the late Herbert Addo and the late Cecil Jones Attuquayefio both run the academy from 1995 to 1998.

English-man David Booth combined first team coaching duties with managing the academy from 1991 to 1994

The Academy's early graduates include Nana Arhin Duah, Lawrence Adjei, and Kofi Amponsah. Later, Mubarak Wakasu, Jonathan Mensah, Opoku Agyemang, Shaibu Yakubu, Nasir Lamine just to name a few.

In 1999, Italian Serie A giants Inter Milan held discussions with the club over a possible partnership. Although the discussions fell through, the club was magnanimous to present a bus to the Ghanaian club to maintain the business relationship.

A similar discussion with Liverpool did not see the light of day.

Before the year ended, however, Sir Sam Jonah, Managing Director of the Company, and Evans Adotey, then one of the brightest minds on the coaching staff, flew to Amsterdam to meet Ajax officials.

This time, they returned with an agreement that gave Ajax access to the country’s best talents, and coaches who knew where to find them.

As part of the agreement, the coaching and administrative staff of Goldfields FC were eligible for quarterly attachments at Ajax. In the first year, Evans Adotey made two such trips while two other coaches also visited Ajax.

When the project eventually took off in 2000, selected players were flown to Ajax for internships with the view to retaining the best of them.

Some of the notable names who made such trips but were never retained include Gladson Awako and Mubarak Wakasu.

Now to the meat of the matter.

Coach Anthony Edusei, in blue, scans the players before him as he gets ready to make a judgement call

In the video, a member of the Ajax contingent clearly spells out the age limit for the exercise; 15 years or below.

In fairness, the video does not capture the proper context of what was in truth a very rigorous scouting plan.

Jan Pryiun, the project lead from Ajax insisted on regional scouting teams who would then present their findings to him, Evans Adotey, Coach Edusei, and the rest of the senior staff.

The best players from the Academy would then join their counterparts in Amsterdam for a two week internship, at the end of which the best performing players would be retained to join the AFC Ajax Youth Team.

An action shot from one of the many trial matches organized during internships for players

''The age consideration was important but the main factor was your ability to play football. That is what we considered at the district and regional levels before bringing them to Obuasi for the final screening,'' Adotey told JoySports.

So it was not a case of denying players opportunities just by assuming bone mass or bone density.

''Jan was a stickler for perfection. Do you know that after these exercises, each player who was selected for the internship had to produce their birth certificate and then we would check at the hospital they were born?''

For those who missed the trip to Amsterdam, there was always another chance.

Flashback: Gladson Awako - second from right, and Mubarak Wakasu - third from right, listening attentively to instructions during a training session before their trip to Amsterdam

''When Gladson Awako first emerged, I took him to Amsterdam for trials. But he failed their age tests there. Mubarak Wakasu too. They did not fail the sporting tests. They did well but we could not find a place for them because they were above the age limit for the youth team where they trialed.''

While the partnership benefited their Ghanaian counterparts, there were too many incidents of supplying overaged players.

In 2007, Ajax finally withdrew their stake in the partnership and it reverted to a fully-owned Ashanti-Goldfields venture.

Who are the characters in the video?

Coach Anthony Edusei.

After retirement, Anthony Edusei became a coaching instructor at the Winneba Sports College in 2017

Coach Edusei, as many call him, gained prominence for his eye for talent and his ability to help them develop.

But like many of the coaches of his era, Edusei was never far away from controversy.

In 1999, coach Edusei was sacked by Kotoko's Executive Chairman, Herbert Amponsah Mensah. He paid the price for losing the 1997/98 league title to Hearts of Oak. 

His main crime was the ill-fated 1-0 win over GHAPOHA FC - a football club owned and run by the Ghana Ports and Harbors Authority.

Despite winning the match, Kotoko was docked six points for fielding the late Lawrence Amankwaah (younger brother of the legendary Frank Amankwaah) who was suspended for the game. So although the win took them to within a point of Hearts of Oak, Kotoko ended up being seven behind Hearts of Oak with just two matches to end the season.

What followed could pass for a badly scripted Kumawood movie. Kotoko's penultimate match with Ebusua Dwarfs was preceded by reports of alleged match-fixing and match manipulation.

True or not, Dwarfs fans were prepared to handle affairs the best way they know. On matchday, scores of Dwarfs fans came to the Siwdu Park with sticks and canes, ostensibly to beat any player who made an error directly leading to a goal.

In the end, the match ended 2-2. All is well then? Not quite.

Turns out that Dwarfs had fielded an unqualified player and were declared losers, while Kotoko was awarded three points and three goals.

Hearts wrapped up the league title with a 2-2 draw with Kotoko in Kumasi on the final day of the season.

Despite beating Real Tamale United 2-1 to win the FA Cup, Edusei was fired when Herbert Mensah arrived at the club.

Three years later, he was back in the dugout, this time as Black Satellites coach. There was no silverware as he superintended over a poor African Youth Championship campaign in Burkina Faso. Ghana suffered a 3-2 loss to Ivory Coast but drew goalless with Egypt and Morocco.

His last coaching jobs in the men's game were at lower-tier side Norkyip and, in 2008, at Premier League side Kessben F.C.

After retiring from active coaching, Edusei took up a role at the Winneba Sports College as a coaching instructor. As a CAF instructor, he made a rule change that would make ex-Black Stars players loathe him forever.

Until his appointment, former players could start their coaching courses from License C as CAF and the Ghana Football Association considered the national team experience as part of the coaching education.

However, Edusei successfully advocated for a rule change, forcing all former players to start from License D. His argument was that, no amount of playing experience can compensate for key elements that were available in the License D curriculum.

Evans Adotey

A young Evans Adotey gets his first taste of coaching after joining the Goldfields coaching staff in the early 1990's

One of the noticeable faces from the video is a young Evans Adotey.

Having retired from Goldfields, Adotey was recruited onto the club’s coaching staff.

He enjoyed a successful time as Goldfields won the newly created Ghana Premier League on three consecutive occasions. Adotey was also part of the backroom staff when they lost the inaugural CAF Champions League title to Raja Casablanca in a 1-0 loss.