Draw Procedures confirmed for CAF African Schools Football Championship Continental Finals Zimbabwe 2026
The Confédération Africaine de Football (CAF) has confirmed the draw procedures for the CAF African Schools Football Championship Continental Finals matches which will take place in Harare, Zimbabwe from 6-10 April, setting the stage for the fourth edition of the prestigious tournament.
The draw will be held in Harare on Thursday, 2 April from 14h00 local time (12h00 GMT) and will be streamed live on CAF TV. It will determine the group-stage composition for both the Under-15 Girls and Under-15 Boys competitions.
The draw will set the stage for another exciting edition of CAF’s flagship schools football competition, as the continent’s rising young talents prepare to compete in Zimbabwe.
In both competitions, the participating teams will be divided into two groups of four teams each. For the purposes of the draw, the teams will be placed into three pots.
In Pot 1, the host nation Zimbabwe will automatically be placed in Group A, position A1. In Pot 2, the reigning champions of the 2025 edition will automatically be placed in Group B, position B1. The remaining six teams will be placed in Pot 3.
The draw procedure will then see balls drawn one by one from Pot 3. The first team drawn will be placed in Group A, position A2, the second team drawn in Group B, position B2, and the process will continue alternately until all teams are allocated to A3, B3, A4 and B4 respectively.
For the Girls competition, Zimbabwe will occupy A1 as hosts, while Ghana, champions of the 2025 edition, will be placed in B1. The six remaining teams in the draw are Burkina Faso, DR Congo, Guinea, Morocco, Tanzania and Zambia.
For the Boys competition, Zimbabwe will again be placed in A1 as hosts, while defending champions Tanzania will take B1. The other six teams in the draw are Benin, DR Congo, Senegal, Morocco, Uganda and Zambia.
Winners of the Continental Finals of the CAF African Schools Football Championship in both the boys and girls categories receive USD 300 000, with runners-up receiving USD 200 000, while third-place finishers each receive USD 150 000.
Aligned with CAF’s strategic focus on youth development, all prize monies awarded are strictly ring-fenced for non-professional football projects that enhance both education and football infrastructure.
Over 3,160,000 Boys and Girls have participated in the Programme since 2022, making it the biggest schools football competition globally. A total of 142 360 school teams from 49 African countries have taken part in the programme.
