By Victor Kanayo
The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has announced that Tanzania will host the maiden U17 women’s competition, tagged the Girls Integrated Football Tournament, in January 2025.
This was disclosed in a statement by CAF via its website on Saturday.
Part of the statement reads: “The Confédération Africaine de Football (CAF) is to organise the inaugural CAF U17 Girls Integrated Football Tournament (GIFT), a pioneering pilot initiative to promote the development of women’s football across Africa.
“The historic event will take place at the Azam Complex Stadium in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and brings together eight teams from CECAFA Member Associations (MAs) from 7–18 January 2025.
“The tournament provides a platform to showcase young female footballers, build player capacity, and promote women’s football at regional and continental levels.
“The competition is part of CAF’s strategy to promote gender equality and empower the next generation of female footballers.
“CAF has set out to increase the participation of girls in football across the continent, encourage MAs and clubs to invest in girls’ football clubs, leagues, and Under-17 women’s national teams, and provide a pathway for girls to transition from schools football to competitive football structures.”
According to CAF, eight clubs from the CECAFA region will compete.
They are Aigle Noir FC (Burundi), Bahir Dar Kenema FC (Ethiopia), Kenya Academy of Sports (Kenya), JKT Queens (Tanzania), TDS Girls Academy (Tanzania), Boni Consilli Girls Vocational Team (Uganda), City Lights Football Academy (South Sudan), and Hilaad FC (Somalia).
