Africa-Press – Uganda. Kawempe Muslim and St. Mary’s College School Kitende (Smask) carry the hopes of the Cecafa region at the May 21-24 to Caf African Schools Football Championship in Zanzibar.
The tournament, which starts with regional championships from which the winners go to these finals, features boys and girls under the age of 15 and according to the Caf website, 804,480 students from 28,862 schools across 44 countries have participated in the tournament this year. That is an increase of 40 percent from the previous edition.
Kawempe captain Tracy Nabalanzi believes they have been “prepared well to bring the continental championship home” in the girls’ category while her Smask counterpart Trevor Mubiru urged his teammates “to emulate the spirit we had in November (during the Cecafa region championship) and ensure we bring glory at the end of May.”
At the Cecafa event, the schools won $100,000 each (about Shs380m) and although they are yet to receive it, they are in huge anticipation that it would change schools’ football forever. There have been reports that Caf sends 40 percent in cash and the other 60 percent is pushed towards a project that the winning school chooses.
Meanwhile, the winners of the continental competition whose draws were due yesterday by press time will each receive $300,000 (about Shs1.14b) in prize money. The runners-up receive $200,000 (about Shs760m), while the bronze medallists will each take home $150,000 (about Shs570m), courtesy of Caf’s partnership with the Motsepe Foundation to be utilised for development projects within schools.
Undoubtedly, this is the biggest windfall in school sports that is going back to the schools and Cecafa’s representatives are easily some of the institutions that many will agree deserve the financial boost for the work they have done in developing girls’ (Kawempe) and boys’ (Smask) football in the region.
“These tournaments will now help us develop the scouting of talent when it is still raw and young. This talent then gets experience from playing continental matches at a young age and that later helps the national teams,” Reverend Canon Duncans Mugumya, the Commissioner of Physical Education and Sports in the Ministry of Education and Sports, said at the teams’ flag off last Friday. He was flanked by National Council of Sports (NCS) assistant general secretary (technical) David Ssemakula Katende and the leader of delegation Hussein Lwembawo.
Caf took care of all expenses for the tournament bar, the air tickets that were procured by the schools.
Caf African Schools Football Championship
Boy’s Tournament – Participating countries
Tanzania (Host), Libya (Unaf), Benin (Wafu-B), Uganda (Cecafa), South Africa (Cosafa), Senegal (Wafu-A), Guinea (Wafu-A & defending champions)
Girls’ Tournament – Participating countries
Tanzania (Host & defending champions), Uganda (Cecafa), Morocco (Unaf), Togo (Wafu-B), South Africa (Cosafa), Gambia (Wafu-A), Congo (Uniffac)
Prize Money
Winner – About Shs1.14b
Runner up – About Shs760m
Second runner up – About Shs570m
Groups
Boys
A: Tanzania, Senegal, Uganda (Smask)
B: South Africa, Benin, Guinea, Libya
Girls
A: Tanzania, Morocco, Congo
B: South Africa, Togo, The Gambia, Uganda
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