
* Tanzania defeated Guinea 1-0 in the boys’ division while South Africa won 5-4 after penalties against Morocco that ended 1-1
* Uganda took bronze medal after defeating hosts Tanzania 1-0 in the girls’ third-place play-off while in the boys’ Senegal beat Benin through penalties
Maravi Express
The four-day CAF African Schools Football Championship Continental Finals concluded in a memorable evening of African youth football celebration on Friday as Tanzania, South Africa crowned champions in boys and girls category respectively.

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A packed Amaan Stadium in Zanzibar bore witness to African youth football history being made when Tanzania rewarded its fans by defeating Guinea 1-0 while South Africa won 5-4 after penalties against Morocco that ended 1-1.
The final, whose tournament took place between May 21-24 May on the Tanzanian island, was attended by CAF president Patrice Motsepe, who earlier in the day visited the Zanzibar State House to meet H.E. Hussein Mwinyi.
Ahead of the two finals, a strong contest for a bronze medal took place in the afternoon as Uganda showed resilience in defeating hosts Tanzania 1-0 in the girls’ third-place play-off.
In the boys’ bronze medal contest, Senegal and Benin played out to an evenly balanced draw, which had to be decided on penalties, as Senegal emerged victorious.

FAM’s competition director Gomezgani Zakazaka was a CAF match official
The CAF African Schools Football Championship concluded yet another impactful season of celebrating and developing African youth football across all spheres of the game.
Individual awards included Fair Play that went to The Gambia for the girls and South Africa for the boys while Best Goalkeeper for girls went to Sphumelele Zibula (South Africa) and Mujahid Juma (Tanzania) for boys.
Golden Boot with three goals each went to Shadia Nabrye (Uganda) for girls and Asmara Keita (Guinea) for boys while the Best Player for girls was Meryem Oubella (Morocco) and for boys – Abel Samson (Tanzania).

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In line with CAF’s visionary approach to the youth competition involving all its 54 Member Associations across the continent, the tournament’s on-field football action has been equally complemented with CAF’s capacity building programmes that have been rolled out from the Zonal qualifiers to the current Continental Finals.
The capacity building programmes form part of the governing body’s holistic approach to youth football development and sees various CAF industry experts and instructors sharing valuable information to the youngsters in the fields of refereeing, coaching, media, medical and leadership amongst others.
The unique element to the innovative youth competition by CAF, which is a first in world football has touched the heart of Tanzanian football legend, Abdi Kassim Sadalla — who was amongst the invited CAF Legends alongside Nigeria’s Daniel Amokachi, Togo’s Emmanuel Adebayor, South Africa’s Amanda Dlamini Jean Sseninde of Uganda — when he described it as “visionary”.

Abdi Kassim Sadalla With fellow CAF Legends
Ahead of the finale, he said the development of African youth is of utmost importance in the enhancement of African football and the continent in its entirety.
“The development of young people is quite dear to my heart because it forms the foundation of a great future,” he told CAFonline. “Football is passionately loved here in Zanzibar and across Africa and CAF’s ability to combine Africa’s passion for football and education is visionary by its leadership.
“Such competitions are a good formula for success for our football and continent in general. While passion for football is a given, we must insist on building and capacitating our youth for a better Africa”, said the former star who is affectionately known is Babi.
Sadalla holds the record of being the first goal scorer at the then newly refurbished Benjamin Mkwapa Stadium in Dar es Salaam in 2007.—Reporting by CAFonline

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