Young and aspiring footballers from the Clermont township, benefitted from the legacy programme of the CAF African Schools Football Championship on Friday, after CAF along with their legends partnered the eThekwini Local Municipality to host a successful coaching clinic at the Christianenburg Stadium.
The coaching clinics were conducted on the sidelines of the final round of group matches, just stone's throw away from the Sugar Ray Stadium, where the semi-finals and finals will be held on Saturday.
The fun-filled afternoon saw the CAF Legends conducting passing, shooting and tactical drills to more than 500 boys and girls who were in attendance on the day.
Speaking on behalf of the CAF Legends, former Ivory Coast national team star, Siaka Tiene said the initiative gives testament to how intentional CAF is about developing football from the ground up.
"This was quite a special afternoon with the kids here at the stadium. Many of us did not have such opportunities to interact with footballers but thanks to CAF, these youngsters are being coached by some of the best African footballers who have played at the highest level" said Tiene.
"I must congratulate CAF for this, which is also in addition to the referees, reporters and coaches programme that they held this week. It just shows how serious CAF is about football development in Africa", he concluded.
Also in attendance was CAF General Secretary, Mr Veron Mosengo-Omba, who said such initiative form part of the overall strategy of the CAF Schools Football Programme.
"At CAF, we have what we call African Schools Programmes. There are three components to this. We have football competitions, capacity building as well as education. These three components form part of the African Schools Programme. It is important that we have such programmes because not everyone will have the skill to actually play football. They may have a skill in other aspects such as commentating, refereeing and coaching. So we need all these kids to learn these different skills and this is why it is important for CAF to ensure that we conduct such programmes" said Mosengo-Omba.
The CAF African Schools Football Championship draw today, with the semi-finals and finals for both the boys and girls taking place at the Sugar Ray Xulu Stadium in Clermont.
