An FA delegation led by Fabio Capello last week travelled to Lesotho, where the Italian coach spent time with local schools, took part in coach education courses and visited a football festival.
On Tuesday, Capello observed a training session involving local school teachers and pupils in the capital Maseru. The next day he visited a festival run by Kick 4 Life, a charity that uses football to fight poverty and disease, most notably HIV and AIDS which affects so many people in Africa.
The visit formed part of The FA's International Relations programme which delivers developmental assistance around the world. Lesotho, along with Botswana and Malawi, is one of the FA's partners under the UEFA-CAF Meridian Project which brings together European national football associations with their counterparts in Africa.
As part of the scheme, the FA delivers a wide range of courses in each country, ranging from football administration, refereeing, youth coaching to women's football.
A warm welcome
Upon his arrival at the headquarters of the Lesotho FA in Maseru, Capello and the delegation were greeted by a song and dance routine from the locals. Once there, they watched a training session involving local teachers and pupils. On hand to assist were two English coaches, Geoff Pike and Peter Ford, who have been resident in the south African nation for several months.
"It is really good to be here and to see the children play and to see the English coaches train local coaches to do a job that will be very important and will bear fruits a bit further down the line," said Capello.
direct link
Thu Apr 24, 2008 4:40 am