By Lubulwa Edrine
St Noa and St Mary’s Boarding School Kitende will represent Uganda at the CAF African Schools Football Championship CECAFA Zone as Uganda hosts the event.
The hosts St Mary’s Kitende and St Noa girls are the champions of the 2024 boys and girls USSSA U-15 National championship will be vying for the coveted accolade alongside the hefty cash prize that comes along with the winners.
The CAF African Schools Football Championship is supported by the Motsepe Foundation with partnership between CAF, African Governments, Member Associations and Schools.
Winners of both the Boys’ and Girls’ competition pocket USD 300 000 prize money each, runners-up each receive USD 200 000, while the bronze medalists taking home USD 150 000, courtesy of CAF’s partnership with the Motsepe Foundation to be utilized for development projects within schools.
The five day event and the 3rd edition will kicks off tomorrow, Tuesday 10th December 2024 at St Mary’s Stadium Kitende. It has attracted nine U15 teams across the CECAFA region. The teams include; Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya, Burundi and Somalia in the boys category as the girls’ will be having Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, and Burundi.
Last year, Uganda representatives Kawempe Muslim finished third taking a cash prize of 150,000 US dollars with South Africa winning the girls’ gold after beating Tanzania as Morocco beat Guinea for the Boys’ gold and the top cash prize.
Yusuf Mossi, the Competitions Director of the Council of East and Central Africa Football Associations (CECAFA) has explained that each of the categories will play the League format and that the team with more points in each category will be the champions thus representing the Zone at the CAF African Schools Football Championship Finals set to take place next year at a venue to be named.
Besides action on the pitch, CAF has also organized several workshops to run alongside the tournament including; Coaching Programme, Young Referees Programme, Young Reporters Programme, and Safeguarding.
