Former Crested Cranes, Queens Park Rangers Women’s FC and Charlton Athletic Women’s FC player, Jean Sseninde has heaped praised on the CAF African Schools Football Championship by noting its impact on and off the pitch. Sseninde is amongst a host of CAF Legends that have descended to Durban for the inaugural tournament.
Speaking to CAFOnline from the sidelines of the competition on the opening day, Sseninde who also runs a girl’s football academy in Uganda says CAF’s investment in schools’ football is truly remarkable and has surpassed all expectations for a new competition.
“One has to applaud CAF for such a bold step in developing football on the continent. When you look at the numbers, 400 000 kids, 20 000 schools across 41 countries – it just goes to show how intentional CAF is about developing football on the continent from the ground up” said an elated Sseninde.
“Such an experience will certainly go a long way for these kids and CAF has pulled out all the stops in ensuring that they experience a truly professional football competition. They have been involved in photoshoots, media interviews and hotel experiences which gives them a taste of what is to come if they take both their football and education seriously” she added.
The former player also touched on the importance of the workshops that were running concurrently to the competition, adding that such programmes are needed in producing future leaders for Africa.
“This tournament is not just about the football on the field but there are also programmes running on the sidelines, such as the young referees programme, young reporters programme as well as other capacity building programmes. This ensures that there is an even wider transfer of skills by CAF and more importantly, this is the best investment we can do for kids for the betterment of Africa” she added.
The CAF African Schools Football Championship is a first of its kind in international football, with the overall winners walking away with USD 10 million thanks to the donation made by the Motsepe Foundation.
