FIFA launches Football for Schools Program in Burundi

World football governing body FIFA will roll out its “Football for Schools Program (F4S) in Burundi, making the African country the 100th worldwide to benefit from the initiative.

FIFA President Gianni Infantino inaugurated the program Saturday October 21 at the Urunani Stadium in Buganda, outside capital Bujumbura.

The ceremony was attended by the Burundi Minister of Youth & Sports, Gervais Abayeho, and the President of the Football Federation of Burundi, Alexandre Muyenge, FIFA Inside reports.

“Thanks to this wonderful Football for Schools project, FIFA and Burundi are uniting the world. We’re uniting the world with a football project, with an education project, with a project that gives chances and opportunities to the youth, to the boys and girls of this wonderful country, Burundi”, the FIFA Chief told the crowd.

F4S launched in mid-2019 in collaboration with UNESCO is considered an ambitious program, meant to contribute to the education, development and empowerment of around 700 million children.

FIFA also argues that it seeks to make football more accessible to both boys and girls around the world by incorporating football activities into the education system, in partnership with relevant authorities and stakeholders. Around 1.5 million footballs have been distributed since the project inception and more than 23 million children are using the Football for Schools app.

FIFA has trained 62 educators and master trainers from Burundi’s 18 regions and Bujumbura on the operational implementation of F4S program.