Salima Secondary School football team yesterday qualified for the semi-finals of the inaugural CAF Africa Schools Championship in Durban South Africa after beating Algeria’s CEM Belaouche Mouhend Oulhadji 2-0 in their last group match.

They will this morning face Guinea’s CS Ben Sekou Sylla in the semis with the winner expected to play winners between hosts Clepham High School or Benin’s Sainte Rita in the final.

Action between Salima and
Algerian side on Friday

The Malawi side has finished fourth in the five-team group with four points from four games, having won once, drawn once and lost twice.

At press time, Guinea’s Sylla topped the chart on 10 points from four matches followed Benin’s Sainte Rita on six points and Clepham on five points.

Algeria’s Oulhadji, who arrived late at the tournament, anchored the table without a single point from three games and could not displace Salima even if they won their last group encounter against Clepham , having lost to 2-0 to Salima, 4-0 to Sainte Rita and 8-0 to Sylla.

Yesterday, Salima scored through captain Alex Blessings Sakala and Innocent Banda.

Salima coach Joseph Kaunda said: “I am happy that we have finally won a match and qualified for the semis. It feels great to make the last four.”

Meanwhile, the team has withdrawn its complaint to the Confederation of Africa Football (CAF) over some of their opponents’ purported age-cheating, but could give the reasons for their change of heart.

The semi-finals, third-placed match and the final will all be played today.

Salima are one of the two boys’ teams representing the Cosafa bloc in the historic continental finals alongside hosts Clepham.

The continental final will see eventual champions taking home $300 000 as first prize. Runners-up will receive $200 000 while third-placed team will get $150 000.

Initially, Salima did not qualify for the continental championship after finishing as runners-up to Clapham during the Cosafa Zone qualifier as only winners made the grade. However, they were roped in after Clapham also qualified as hosts.

CAF president Patrice Motsepe is sponsoring the competition to the tune of K10 billion as an investment for the future of football on the continent.

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