Building on the momentum of an intense and fruitful 2023 – a further 71 FIFA (www.FIFA.com) member associations introduced the programme - the FIFA Football for Schools programme and its team have set off again on the road to meet schoolchildren eager to learn through football.

There is still a long way to go, as F4S has set itself the goal of contributing to the development and empowerment of almost 700 million children around the world. But a symbolic step was taken in Sierra Leone, which became the 107th FIFA member association to join the programme.

With FIFA comprised of 211 member associations globally, F4S is now halfway through its ambitious mission to make football more accessible to young people by integrating football-related activities into the education system. This milestone was reached in Africa where Football for Schools is proportionally the most represented, with 70% of the continent’s member associations having already implemented the programme.

To mark the occasion, fifty physical education teachers from Sierra Leone's 16 districts met in Makeni, around 200 kilometres from the capital Freetown between 5-7 February.

Under the guidance of F4S experts, the teachers were able to learn the rudiments of the programme during the first 48 hours. They subsequently put the theory they’d learned into practice on the final day, joined by 125 children, who were ready to make the launch of F4S in Sierra Leone a real celebration.

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