CAF: list of teams for first-ever African Schools Football Championship

As part of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) desire to nurture young football talents, the maiden edition of the African Schools Football Championship will kick off soon.

Seven teams, one each from the CAF federations zones will gather in South Africa to compete for the bragging right and the big prize. Schools from 12 African countries will be present with Benin and South Africa each presenting two teams.

Following a series of qualifiers that started from the national level through to the zonal, the finals will be held in South Africa. Fourteen schools, seven girls and seven boys schools will compete for the USD100,000 prize money.

Representing WAFU Zone B in the boys category is CEG Sainte Rita of Benin who beat Cours Secondaire Venus Saioua of Côte d’Ivoire 2-0 in the Zonals. They are joined by their country mates CEG Colby who won against Ecole Chanvigny B of Burkina Faso 4-3 on penalties. In WAFU Zone B are Scan Aid of The Gambia for girls and Complexe Scolaire Ben Sekou Sylla of Guinea.

Ecole Omar Ibn Khatab of Morocco(girls) and Ecole Hedi Ayadi of Tunisia (boys) will represent UNAF. Also, CS Horizon of Bukavu, DR Congo for boys and CEG Mfilou of Congo-Brazzaville for girls will represent UNIFFAC.

Meanwhile, Edendale Technical will represent girls in the COSAFA zone while compatriots, Clapham High School will represent boys in that zone. On the other hand, East Africa will have Uganda’s Royal Giants High School and Tanzania’s Fountain Gate Dodoma Secondary School representing boys and girls respectively.

Anse Boileau from Seychelles and Salima Secondary School from Malawi placed second in the girls’ and boys’ zonal competition in the COSAFA zone. However, they qualify because South Africa as the host is presenting two teams, one each for boys and girls.

According to CAF, the programme is hinged on three pillars namely The Game, Social and Training and Education. The game seeks to nurture football talent in a continentally recognised competition while the social aspect seeks to promote social values of inclusivity, gender equality and fair play in a safe and secure environment. The training and education part aims to define the career pathways in other aspects of football management.