Tanzania, South Africa reign supreme in CAF African Schools Football Championship

At a packed Amaan Stadium, Tanzania were crowned champions in front of their home supporters after defeating defending champions Guinea 1-0 in the boys’ competition, while South Africa beat Morocco 5-4 via post-match penalties to win the girls’ crown. The tightly contested girl’s final had ended 1-1 in normal time, before spot kicks came in handy to decide the winner.

Oliver Ochieng, bird story agency

Curtains of the second edition of the CAF African Schools Football Championship continental finals came down at the Amaan Stadium in Zanzibar on Friday night, with Tanzania and South Africa being crowned boys’ and girls’ champions respectively.

At a packed Amaan Stadium, Tanzania were crowned champions in front of their home supporters after defeating defending champions Guinea 1-0 in the boys’ competition, while South Africa beat Morocco 5-4 via post-match penalties to win the girls’ crown. The tightly contested girl’s final had ended 1-1 in normal time, before spot kicks came in handy to decide the winner.

Reacting to the win, Tanzania coach John Mashaka congratulated his charges for making their country proud. “The matches were difficult for all teams but our strategy from the start was not to concede a goal. We are champions because we played according to the plan,” he said.

John Peter, the captain concurred. “All the players were focused towards making Tanzania proud,” said the midfielder who harbors ambitions of playing for the Tanzania senior national team, Taifa Stars in the future.

The second edition of the tournament got under way on May 21, 2024, and featured CAF Zonal Union U-15 boys and girls champions.

Ahead of the two finals, Uganda defeated Tanzania 1-0 in the girls’ third-place play-off, while in the boys’ category, Senegal and Benin played out to an evenly balanced 0-10 draw. The match had to be decided on penalties, as Senegal scored all the five spot kicks against Benin’s three.

CAF African Schools Football Championship Final Day Results:

Third Place Play-Off (Girls)

Uganda 1 – 0 Tanzania

Third Place Play-Off (Boys)

Senegal (5) 0 – 0 (3) Benin

Final (Girls)

Morocco (4) 1 – 1 (5) South Africa

Final (Boys)

Guinea 0 – 1 Tanzania

Individual Awards:

Fair Play: Girls – Gambia

              Boys – South Africa

 Best Goalkeeper:  Girls – Sphumelele Zibula (South Africa)

                               Boys – Mujahid Juma (Tanzania)

Top Scorer: Girls – Shadia Nabrye (Uganda) | 3 Goals

                              Boys – Asmara Keita (Guinea) | 3 Goals

 Best Player: Girls – Meryem Oubella (Morocco)

                        Boys – Abel Samson (Tanzania)

Winners of both the boys’ and girls’ competitions each received US$300,000 prize money, with runners-up each receiving US$200,000, while the bronze medalists each took home US$150,000.

Before the 14 teams reached the CAF Zonal Union stage in Zanzibar, about 804,480 young boys and girls from 28,862 schools across 44 countries participated in the tourney. CAF says this is an increase of 40% from the previous edition.

The participating teams were:

Boys: Benin (WAFU B), Libya (UNAF), Republic of Congo (UNIFFAC), Senegal (WAFU A), South Africa (COSAFA), Uganda (CECAFA).

Girls: Gambia (WAFU A), Morocco (UNAF), Republic of Congo (UNIFFAC), South Africa (COSAFA), Togo (WAFU B), Uganda (CECAFA).

The CAF African Schools program is a CAF development project that focuses on organised school football, with a view of creating and sustaining a continentally competitive school football competition that will encourage young Africans to stay in school and play football.

The program includes other support pillars aimed at increasing the social impact of football and building the capacity of participating countries to manage football through training programs.

The vision is to create a future in football for every boy and girl in Africa.