With just a few days to go before the Confédération Africaine de Football (CAF) officially kicks off the third edition of the CAF African Schools Football Championship, CAFOnline takes a look at the growth and impact of the competition since its inaugural 2022 edition.
About the CAF African Schools Football Championship
The CAF African Schools Championship is a CAF programme development project that is focused on organised school football. Its sole aim is to create and sustain a continentally competitive school football competition that will encourage young Africans to stay in school and play football.
The Programme strategically includes other support pillars that will increase the social impact of football and build the capacity of participating countries to manage football through training programmes.
Vision: To create a future in football for every boy and girl in Africa.
Mission: To collaborate with African schools and relevant government authorities to organise football related programs across Africa through our Member Associations.
Purpose: To exploit the opportunities within the values of football to holistically develop African boys and girls.
Pillars of the Programme:
- The Game: African Schools Championship is an organised schools’ football competition that will be contested by schools in Africa annually.
- Social Impact: The programme will include support projects to use football as a passion focus point to address social issues in the communities around and within the participating schools.
- Capacity Building: The Programme seeks to work closely with the CAF member Associations in strengthening their capabilities to exercise their mandate in football governance.
The CAF African Schools Football Championship features Boys and Girls under the age of 15.
The 2023/24 edition reached 804,480 young Boys and Girls in from 28,862 schools across 44 countries have participated.
This is an increase of 40% from the inaugural edition.
74% – The majority of players at the 2023/24 CAF African Schools Football Championship attended for the first time in the same year.
72% percentage of players who travelled internationally for the first time as a result of participating in the CAF African Schools Football Championship.
| SEASON 1 2022/23 | GIRLS SCHOOL | BOYS SCHOOL | TOTAL | GIRLS PARTICIPANTS | BOYS PARTICIPANTS | TOTAL |
| 7 201 | 10 563 | 17 764 | 179 899 | 263 795 | 443 694 | |
| SEASON 2 2023/24 | 12 276 | 16 586 | 28 862 | 306 900 | 497 680 | 804 480 |
| SEASON 3 2024/25 | 14 868 | 20 983 | 35 851 | 297 360 | 419 660 | 717 020 |
| COMBINED TOTAL | 34 345 | 48 132 | 82 477 | 784 159 | 1 181 035 | 1 965 194 |
CAPACITY BUILDING PROGRAMMES
The Capacity Building Programme focuses on skills and development and runs parallel to the CAF African Schools Football Championship Qualifiers and Continental Finals.
The purpose of the Capacity Building programmes is to ensure that learners are developed holistically, both on and off the field.
The programme also caters for school teachers who are the primary guardians of the learners during school hours.
Programmes offered under the CAF Capacity Building Programme of the CAF African Schools Football Championship are the: Young Referees Programme for aspiring referees, Young Medical Officer Programme for aspiring sport physicians, Young Reporters Programme for aspiring media practitioners.
The programme also caters for teachers and guardians involved in schools football development as follows: CAF D License Coaching to equip teachers with basic coaching education and knowledge as well as the CAF Safeguarding Programme to foster safe and secure environment for football development.
CAPACITY BUILDING IN NUMBERS
| PROGRAMME | 2022/23 | 2023/24 |
| Young Reporters Programme | 210 | 210 |
| Young Referees Programme | 140 | 120 |
| Young Medical Officers Programme | 175 | 300 |
| CAF D-License | 100 | 100 |
| Safeguarding Officers Programme | – | 150 |
OTHER RESULTS FROM CONTINENTAL FINALS CAPACITY BUILDING PROGRAMME
| PROGRAMME | NUMBER |
| Young Referees | 108 |
| Medical Officers | 110 |
| Young Reporters | 180 |
| Coaches Programme | 210 |
| Leadership Programme | 100 |
ZONAL PHASE
Winners: USD 100 000
Runners-Up: USD 75 000
Bronze: USD 50 000
CONTINENTAL FINALS
Winners: USD 300 000
Runners-Up: USD 200 000
Bronze: USD 150 000
| POSITIVE IMPACT MADE BY CAF AFRICAN SCHOOLS FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP PRIZE MONIES |
The prize monies of the CAF African Schools Football Championship, which are courtesy of the Motsepe Foundation have contributed to the refurbishment and building of much-needed infrastructure across various schools in Africa.
These include the refurbishment of classrooms, boreholes study centre, training pitches, cafeterias, purchasing of school buses, computers and sporting equipment by CAF Partners, PUMA.
The CAF African Schools Football Championships has been supported by some of African football’s greatest talents who have formed part of the various off the field development programmes.
African football greats who have graced the tournament include Asamoah Gyan (Ghana), Emmanuel Adebayor (Togo), Daniel Amokachi (Nigeria), Lucas Radebe, Amanda Dlamini, (South Africa) and Abdi Kassim Sadalla (Tanzania).
As part of its innovative approach to youth football development and affording access, CAF distributes 800 PUMA match balls to all participating Member Associations of the competition.
