Capacity Building a key focus area at ongoing CAF African Schools Football Championship
Nouakchott, the capital city of Mauritania is abuzz with youth football development activity as the nation plays host to the African Schools Football Championship (ASFC) WAFU A qualifiers.
A total of five nations are competing for an opportunity to represent their nation and Zonal union at the tournament’s finals set to take place later this year.
While youth football remains the main attraction over the three day tournament currently taking place between 01 – 03 March, a number of capacity building programmes and youth festivals were conducted by CAF as part of the competitions parallel objective of empowering future African leaders.
Ahead of the start of the tournament currently, CAF conducted a various capacity building workshops and courses for learners, educators and coaches in line with CAF’s holistic approach to youth football development.
A five-day CAF D License coaching, which kicked off on Monday, 26 March saw 50 aspirant coaches acquiring accredited CAF coaching certificates to mark the start of their coaching careers.
The CAF Safeguarding Programme, which is designed to equip educators in creating a safe and secure environment for football development was also conducted with 30 attendees.
The CAF Young Reporters and Young Medical Officers workshops, led by seasoned industry experts also afforded learners the unique opportunity of learning the behind the scenes of media and broadcast through the Young Reporters Programme, while also being exposed to Health and Safety in sport through the Young Medical Officers programme.
Learners were also afforded an opportunity to learn the basics of officiating a football match through the CAF Young Referees Programme.
CAF African Schools Football Championship Capacity Building Programmes:
- CAF D License Coaching Course – 50
- Leadership Programme – 30
- CAF Safeguarding Programme – 30
- Young Reporters Programme – 35
- Young Referees Programme – 30
- Youth Festival - 60
The CAF African Schools Football Champions is a first of its kind in world football, with the innovative youth football competition thousands of young African boys and girls exposure to international football and development.
This season of the competition also marked a significant milestone in the tournament’s exciting growth, with over 800,000 young African boys and girls from more than 28,000 schools across 44 countries participating reached by CAF.