ZANZIBAR has been chosen to host the CAF African Schools Football Championship Finals in 2024, marking the second season of Africa's largest youth football competition, which will take place at the newly renovated New Amaan Complex from May 21-24, 2024.

The first season of Africa’s largest youth football competition finals was hosted in South Africa last year.

CAF president, Patrice Motsepe, and many African football legends will attend the finals of the 2024 edition of the competition, which will feature winners from Regional/ Zonal Qualifiers.

The CAF African Schools Football Championship features boys and girls under the age of 15. It is a first for world football and the brainchild of CAF president Motsepe, in line with his vision of investing in the youth of Africa.

Building on the success of its inaugural edition, this season has seen a 40% spike in participation, with 804,480 young African boys and girls from 28,862 schools across 44 countries taking part in the second season of the CAF African Schools Football Championship.

Coupled with its platform of allowing youngsters to compete internationally, the competition has a parallel capacity-building program, affording scholars, coaches, and educators unique capacity-building skills.

Throughout the Zonal Qualifiers, CAF has rolled out various capacity-building programs, one of which is the Young Reporters Program.

Young Referee Program, Young Medical Officers Program, CAF D License Coaching Course, as well as the CAF Safeguarding Workshops, wind up the list of the confederation’s programs.

Similar to last season, the CAF African Schools Football Championship Finals are expected to be attended by some of CAF’s legends to help inspire and encourage aspiring footballers.

Winners of both the boys’ and girls’ competitions will receive USD 300,000 prize money apiece, with runners-up receiving USD 200,000 apiece.

The bronze medalists will take home USD 150,000 apiece, courtesy of CAF’s partnership with the Motsepe Foundation to be utilized for development projects in schools.