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The development of African youth is of utmost importance in the enhancement of African football and the continent in its entirety.
These were the views shared by Tanzanian football legend, Abdi Kassim Sadalla who is amongst the invited CAF legends attending the second edition of the CAF African Schools Football Championship Continental Finals in Zanzibar this week.
The ongoing tournament is at the exciting Continental Finals phase, with each of CAF’s zonal winners being represented in both the boys and girls U-15 division between 21 – 24 May at Zanzibar’s Amaan Stadium.
In line with CAF’s visionary approach to the youth competition involving all its 54 Member Associations across the continent, the tournament’s on-field football action has been equally complemented with CAF’s Capacity Building programmes that have been rolled out from the Zonal qualifiers to the current Continental Finals.
The capacity building programmes form part of the governing body’s holistic approach to youth football development and sees various CAF industry experts and instructors sharing valuable information to the youngsters in the fields of refereeing, coaching, media, medical and leadership amongst others.
The unique element to the innovative youth competition by CAF, which is a first in world football has touched the heart of Sadalla, who described it as “Visionary”.
The development of young people is quite dear to my heart because it forms the foundation of a great future. Football is passionately loved here in Zanzibar and across Africa and CAF’s ability to combine Africa’s passion for football and education is visionary by its leadership” said Sadalla.
Such competitions are a good formula for success for our football and continent in general. While passion for football is a given, we must insist on building and capacitating our youth for a better Africa”, said the former star who is affectionately known is Babi.
Sadalla holds the record of being the first goal scorer at the then newly refurbished Benjamin Mkwapa Stadium in Dar Es Salaam in 2007.
He is joined at the ongoing four-day competition by other seasoned CAF legends which include Daniel Amokachi (Nigeria), Emmanuel Adebayor (Togo), Amanda Dlamini (South Africa) as well as Jean Sseninde of Uganda.
The CAF African Schools Football Championship Continental Finals continues throughout the week, with the finals set for Friday, 24 May where the African champions will be officially crowned.
All the matches can be viewed live daily on CAF’s official YouTube channel, CAF TV.