The school championship initiated by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) has reached a new level.
CAF has introduced innovations for the 2025-2026 edition by now focusing on national teams formed from schools, instead of individual schools or colleges that previously represented the country in the final phase.
This change in vision has pushed federations to modify the rules for organizing the national phase. The Congolese Football Federation (Fécofoot), through its National Technical Directorate (DTN), concluded its first detection phase on November 13th and 14th at the Ignnié Technical Center. Hundreds of U-14 girls and U-15 boys were evaluated.
The goal was no longer to crown a winner but to detect talents to form a national team that will participate next month in Libreville, Gabon, in the tournament of the Central African Football Federations Union. “We still needed a winner. But know that first place here does not qualify for any tournament. Qualification is not based on that. We had a whole team of observers watching the matches and taking notes on the players who showed the most potential,” explained the National Technical Director.
The players who caught the observers’ eyes will be called up for special training sessions or to play against other school teams to refine the squad. “We can manage to form a strong team. We will communicate the list of identified players to your colleagues for joint training sessions to have the best possible selection to go and compete in Gabon,” he emphasized.
The scope of the next editions of the national phase will be broader, with the participation of school teams from all corners of the country. The aim is to form a true national school team that will represent its colors each time in a zonal country.