Celebration at Lycée Lamine Gueye in Dakar
New pitches to support youth development
Renovation of facilities for girls and boys
Hundreds of school children celebrated the launch of a new football development project in Dakar, Senegal. The Lycée Lamine Gueye has a capacity of 3,000 students and the project, part of the FIFA Forward programme, follows a Memorandum of Understanding with the Confederation Africaine de Football (CAF) and the African Union in February 2019.
The project includes the construction of a new pitch, an outdoor futsal pitch and the renovation of changing rooms for boys and girls. It will allow the community to benefit from facilities which it hosts training sessions for clubs and schools in the Dakar-Plateau area, inter-school (UASSU) and inter-university competitions and pupils from surrounding colleges.
With the ball you can learn everything, you can talk about everything. We can talk about respect, team spirit and we can help each other.”
“This smile is the joy that we want to give to all the students of Lamine Gueye,” FIFA President Gianni Infantino told the audience. “Football is joy. It is hope, smiles. We must use this magic to train our young people of tomorrow. It is important to make sure that sport and education go hand in hand, because sport and football are a school of life."
Lycée Lamine Gueye opening ceremony
The opening ceremony was also attended by FIFA Secretary General Fatma Samoura, Chief of Global Football Development Arsene Wenger, Chief Member Associations Officer Kenny Jean-Marie, Federation Senegalaise de Football President Augustin Senghor, General Mamadou Mansour Seck and Aissatou Sy, Principal of Lycée Lamine Gueye.