Caf African Schools Football Programme |20 September 2022
Souvenir photo after the presentation ceremony (Photo: Roland Duval)
Secondary schools receive footballs as part of Caf’s capacity building programme
Several secondary schools around the island which are involved in the Confédération Africaine de Football Schools Football Programme yesterday received a batch of playing balls as part of the programme’s educational development.
The Confédération Africaine de Football (Caf) African Schools Football Programme is the implementation of one of Caf president, Dr Patrice Motsepe’s African youth football development objectives, and is a partnership involving Caf, African governments, and football associations from 41 participating countries.
The programme also involves the provision of education, coaching, football and skills development courses.
The students received their footballs from president of the Seychelles Football Federation (SFF) Elvis Chetty in his capacity as a Caf executive committee member.
Also present at the ceremony which took place at Maison Football, Roche Caïman, were vice president of the SFF Dolor Ernesta, chief executive Georges Bibi and his assistant Denis Rose.
The programme received a donation of US $10 million from the Motsepe Foundation which will be used as prize money, while the winning schools will use the prize money to provide football infrastructure, educational and other skills development facilities at these schools.
Locally, several secondary schools took part in a Panafrican football league earlier during the year and national winners Persévérance school will play at the zonal phase (Southern Africa Football Associations – Cosafa) which will take place in Malawi next month.
The Caf Football Schools Football Programme is divided into three phases, with the first taking place at national level, while the second phase, also known as the zonal phase, is where winners of national competitions will compete between September and December 2022.
The final stage will be the continental leg which will be played in March 2023 at a venue still to be announced.
The programme also focuses on capacity building in areas of governance, coaching, education and media for the participating countries.
The participating schools will also benefit from this capacity building and training programme, and teachers will be selected to enrol in Caf coaching programmes.
One of the objectives of the programme is on the social impact of football in the communities and countries where the schools are – using the game to change the face of Africa.
This includes leadership development where children from each participating school will deputise their teachers in administrative roles within the team set-up to learn first-hand the qualities required to lead a winning team; young reporter programme where children will be selected to learn media related skills like journalism and tv/radio commentary; and also the young referee programme where children will be trained on how to interpret the laws of football and they will be given opportunities to officiate matches during the championship.
Roland Duval