African Schools Cup magic: the skills, the pride and the goals

Youth Football talent and lots of goals were centre stage at Stade des Martyrs  in  Kinshasa, as the African Schools Champions cup got off to a great start on Saturday, February 19, 2022. The event was organised by FIFA to support grassroots football development on the African continent in association with CAF and featured boys and hirls teams form host DR Congo, South Africa, Morocco, Ethiopia, Senegal and the Benin Republic.

It was a festival atmosphere on day one with national pride at stake, with a large turnout of more than 12000 home support for the hosts, but  the DR Congo girls team was on the receiving end of one of the most entertaining games. Even with the massive home support, Morocco produced a high-scoring performance, beating the hosts 7-1. The North Africans also defeated South Africa 1-0

Earlier, South Africa  beat Congo DR

Earlier, South Africa had beaten DR Congo 1-0 and Ethiopia had upset Senegal 2-0 but the biggest result of the day was Benin. The tiny west African nation recorded a 10-0 win over Senegal Girls.

Radia Laghni of Morocco Girl’s team said: Our team played well against such a strong team in Congo DR but I am happy with his game today.”

Morocco Boys emulated the girls team, beating South Africa 7-0.

Ethiopia Boys team beat Congo 2-1, Senegal defeated South Africa 2-1 and DR Congo fans still reeling from the girls’ heavy defeat roared to salute their boys, who came from a goal down to record a big  4-1 win over  Benin Republic.

Ethiopia Boys captain, Simon Habtamu was delighted with their performance:

“This is a great opportunity for me and my country to play at this tournament. We played against DR Congo in our first game and they were bigger than us physically but we stayed focused and won.”

“We are excited about playing in a big competition like this because we have now learnt so much about other teams from across Africa.”

Congo’s Chance Kasindi “First, I want to thank my team-mates. The game went very well despite losing the first half, but we put in the effort and went on to win the second. The tournament is a great opportunity for us. I ‘ve been aiming to play this type of competition for a while and we are going to do our best.”

FIFA’s General Secretary, Fatma Samoura, was on the ground to see the action up close.

“The intention was also to see all 54 African national associations come together in one country to allow children to use sport as a way to embrace the values that football generally conveys. They include fighting against discrimination, positive masculinity, but also fighting against any form of social bias. At the heart of it, the idea is for these children to eventually become role models for their community, but also for their country, as well as the true development of players through this training,” she said.

The tournament continued on Sunday (February 20 ) with the knockout stage and with FIFA president, Gianni Infantino on hand to grace the closing events.

The vision for the African School Champions Cup was born exactly one year ago during a  visit to Democratic Republic of Congo by President  Infantino and delivered with the support of the Confederation of African Football (CAF), The Congolese Association Football Federation (FECOFA) and the United nations Development Programme (UNDP).