African football Legends such as Emmanuel Adebayor (Togo), Daniel Amokachi (Nigeria), and Abdi Kassim Sadalla (Tanzania) paid a visit to the boys’ team hotel in Zanzibar ahead of the CAF African Football Schools Championship.
The tournament scheduled to take place from the 21st to the 24th of May at Zanzibar’s Amaan Stadium aims to offer young players an unforgettable experience.
As part of CAF’s initiative, these esteemed legends attended a special dinner with the teams, providing words of wisdom and encouragement to the U-15 boys. They emphasized the importance of fair play and the unique opportunity the tournament provides.
Togolese Legend, Emmanuel Adebayor, highlighted the significance of the event, saying, “It is so encouraging to witness young African footballers like yourselves being afforded an opportunity to participate in such a competition. This is beyond football. It is about affording you an opportunity to learn about and from your fellow African brothers and sisters, which is what we need to encourage as fellow Africans.”
Adebayor further stressed the value of sportsmanship: “While winning is a great feeling, it is important that you display sportsmanship and fair play, as that will in the long term help you both on and off the field.”
He also warned the young athletes about the dangers of fraudulent player agents who exploit African talent with false promises of overseas football careers. “You are the best young players in your respective countries, which is why you are here today. We know that you all want to be great African footballers like Jay Jay Okocha and Mohammed Salah, but it is a journey. There are so many dangers to being in a rush, such as falling victim to fake player agents. They promise to take you to big clubs abroad only to take advantage of you, so we want to encourage you to be vigilant. CAF is also raising awareness about such dangers, which we encourage you to take note of and not fall victim to.
In the Women’s category, Legends of the African women’s game such as Amanda Dlamini of South Africa and Jean Sseninde of Uganda, visited the girls’ hotel on Monday to provide motivation and encouragement ahead of their competition starting on Tuesday. This visit marks an exciting milestone leading up to the second season of the highly anticipated CAF African Schools Football Championship Continental Finals.
