KAMPALA, UGANDA —The Federation International Football Association (FIFA) officially launched its Football for Schools Programme in Uganda on Tuesday at the FUFA Technical Centre in Njeru. The event was attended by top officials from FIFA, the Uganda Football Association (FUFA), and the Ministry of Education and Sports.
FUFA President Moses Magogo hailed the initiative, saying it aligns with the association’s goal of increasing mass football participation in the country. “We want to thank FIFA for this Programme, which will help us achieve our objective of making football accessible to every young boy and girl,” he said.
“Our intention as FUFA is to ensure that every young boy and girl has access to playing football. In our Technical Master Plan, we have put keen attention to mass football, and there is no better way to do it than having school-going children. Having games teachers learn football helps us to pass our message to the pupils easily because they interact regularly, and it becomes effective in having more children attracted to the game.”
FIFA Chief Member Associations Officer Henry Honore Jean Marie explained that the intention of this Programme is to teach children life skills through football. “We know that football has a great impact on society, and the belief we have at FIFA is that we can instill life skills to children through football. That is why we have partnered with UNESCO to extend this Programme to our Member Associations in collaboration with the Government through the Ministry of Education and Sports.” He indicated. “We have prepared content that the Games Teachers will use to teach the students both the technical and life skill aspects.”
Odongo stated that the Ministry of Education and Sports will follow up with the Programme to make sure that the message is cascaded to every part of the country. “We will ensure that the programme is rolled out nationwide, and we are committed to supporting FUFA and FIFA in this initiative.”
The Programme started on Sunday with 50 Games teachers from Primary Schools across the country enrolling for a football workshop for the first two days. Games Teachers were taken through the basics of life skills, game preparations, children safeguarding, emotional control, and teamwork, among others.
The launch was also attended by FUFA First Vice President Justus Mugisha, FUFA Executive Committee Member Ronnie Kalema, FUFA CEO Edgar Watson, and FUFA Deputy CEO-Football Decolas Kizza, as well as FIFA Member Association Africa Regional Coordinator Sousa Silmara.
