Host for East Africa qualifiers for CAF African Schools Championships announced

Uganda has, for the second year running, been selected to host the CAF African Schools Football CECAFA Zonal qualifiers 2025-2026, scheduled for Saturday, 6 to Tuesday, 9 December.

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Jean Sseninde, Interim Executive Director of the Council of East and Central Africa Football Associations (CECAFA), confirmed on Saturday, 8 November, that the tournament had been moved from Ethiopia to Uganda.

“We are happy to announce that the regional qualifiers for the CECAFA Zone will now be hosted by Uganda," Sseninde said.

"This is a very important competition to have the youngsters compete at the Zonal level for boys and girls, and we thank Uganda for accepting to host the tournament."

As per CECAFA, ten boys and eight girls teams have already confirmed their participation at the championships.

The draw for the competition will take place on Monday, 10 November at the FUFA Studios in Mengo, Uganda.

First staged in 2022 and combining the power of football and education, Africa’s largest and most impactful youth schools football competition for boys and girls in the Under-15 age category returns for another exciting season.

Coincidentally, teams from the CECAFA Zone have been the most successful sides since the tournament was launched by CAF President Dr Patrice Motsepe.

The inaugural tournament took place in Durban, South Africa, in 2023, with Guinea’s CS Ben Sekou Sylla winning the boys' title, and Tanzania’s Fountain Gate School winning the girls’ title.

During the second edition hosted by Zanzibar in 2024, Tanzania won the boys’ title, while South Africa emerged as champions in the girls’ category.

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The third edition held in Ghana this year saw Tanzania defend their boys’ title, while hosts Ghana beat Uganda in the final to win the girls’ title.

Kenya, who hosted the zonal qualifiers in 2023, are expected to be in the line-up for Monday's draw, having taken part in the last editions.

No team - boys or girls - made the finals last year, while in 2023, Kenya made it to the girls' final, eventually losing 2-1 to Uganda at Kasarani Stadium.

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Overall, it is expected that the 2025/26 season will see over 800,000 boys and girls from across Africa being afforded an opportunity to compete at the highest level of school football.

The WAFU A Zone will officially kick off this season’s qualifiers in The Gambia between Thursday, 20 to Sunday, 30 November.

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