Durban Hosts CAF African Schools Football Championship

All is ready for the inaugural Edition of the CAF African Schools Football Championship Grand finale in Durban, South Africa. The groundbreaking event for football development in Africa will reach its climax between the 5th to 8th of April 2023.

The champions of the regional finals will compete in both boys’ and girls’ categories for the right to be crowned continental Champion of the first-ever Edition of the CAF African Schools football championship.

What is the CAF African Schools Football Championship?

The CAF African Schools football championship is a development project focusing on organized school football.

Through the African Schools Football Championship, CAF hopes to increase the social impact of football and build the capacity of young people from participating countries.

The Program has Three Main Objectives

The game itself focuses on nurturing football talent in a continentally-recognized football competition.
The SOCIAL aspect promotes inclusivity, gender equality, and fair play in a safe and secure environment.
TRAINING & EDUCATION focuses on the career pathways in several aspects of football management.

What is the Format of the Competition?

The CAF African schools football competition is open to young people of both genders aged 12 to 15. About 44 000 youths from 20 000 schools participated in this inaugural Edition. A total of 41 countries participated in this inaugural Edition.

The competition has three phases:

• Phase one is the National Phase, organized by National federations.
• Phase two is the Zonal phase (six zones),
• Phase three is the continental phase, where the top 14 teams from the zonal phase will compete to determine the overall champion.

Cameroon participated in the UNIFFAC zone with DR Congo’s CS Horizon of Bukavu, emerging champions for the boys’ category, and CEG Mfilou of Brazzaville in the girls’ category.

The other zones are:

• CECAFA zone (East Africa)
• COSAFA zone (Southern Africa)
• UNAF zone (North Africa)
• WAFU A zone (West Africa)
• WAFU B zone (West Africa)

Format of Games

• Each team consists of 8 players, with unlimited substitutions permitted.
• Each match lasts 40 minutes (20 minutes x 2) with a 10-minute break in-between halves.
• The pitch is half the size of a standard football (70m X 42m), with goal posts measuring (5m X 2m).

Prize Money

This year’s competition is being sponsored by the Motsepe Foundation, with 10 million dollars donated as prize money for the 2023 edition.

The prize money for the boys’ and girls’ competitions is precisely the same, broken down as follows:

Zonal Phase

• Winner: $100,000
• Runner-up: $75,000
• Third place: $50,000
• Total: $2,700,000

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Continental Phase

• Winner: $300,000
• Runner-up: $200,000
• Third place: $150,000
• Total: $1,300,000

All games will be played at the King Zwelithini Stadium in Umlazi, Durban, South Africa. The grand finale will take place on 8th April 2023.

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