The newly constructed CAF (Confederation of African Football) football academy in Yaounde, Cameroon is set to admit its first players soon.
The infrastructure has been made accessible by a 3km tarred road from the Douala highway to the complex. The CAF academy is an ideal location for the preparation of high level sportsmen.
The CAF complex is comprised of a 20 room hotel, two training fields (one of which is artificial), an administrative block, two swimming pools, a multipurpose field and a water treatment plant, covers a surface area of 23 hectares.
Apart from using local energy, the complex has three generators that serve as back-up when local energy supply is inadequate. Construction work on the complex began in December 2006.
"We owe sincere gratitude to the Cameroonian government, which helped us to reduce the cost of the project by exonerating custom duties on materials meant for the work," said CAF president Issa Hayatou.
The creation of CAF Academies falls in line with the development programme of the Confederation, helping to provide the continent with quality infrastructure.
I really hope we could have more of these around the continent. Ghana has its own Soccer School of Excellence but it is - as usual - piteously under-equipped. The last time I visited the place it looked a bit out of sorts.
The Yaounde, Dakar and Addis Ababa academies are the three regional centres that have already been completed.
Each of Cameroun's academies shall host seminars, refresher courses for actors in the area of refereeing, training, administration and sports medicine.
