
The Confederation of African Athletics will commence its Olympic talent identification initiative in Abeokuta at the 2025 African U18/U20 Championships after partnering with the World Wide Scholarships, PUNCH Sports Extra reports.
According to Athletics Africa, the partnership between the CAA and WSS will officially begin at the CAA U18/U20 Championships in Nigeria, which will serve as the starting point for identifying emerging athletic talent across the continent.
The third edition of the CAA African U18/U20 Combined Championships, now scheduled for July 16–20, 2025, was originally set to take place in Oran, Algeria, before being moved to Abeokuta due to logistical issues and is expected to attract over 500 young athletes from across the continent.
As part of the agreement signed by CAA President Kalkaba Malboum and WWS CEO Munya Maraire, WWS has been granted the mandate to identify, manage and develop African athletic talent.
In a WWS release, this collaboration is designed to provide structured pathways for young athletes, encompassing scouting, training, professional career management, and sponsorship access.
“This collaboration aims to identify and develop the next generation of talent for the Olympic Games and World Championships.
“It grants WWS the significant mandate to discover and nurture promising young athletes across the African continent,” the release stated.
“We have to get to every different nation, find the talent that is there and give them a plan of development in which WWS will be involved in from A to Z,” Maraire said, adding that the goal is to reshape African sports, empower athletes for global success, and promote sustainable and inclusive development.
The initiative also includes plans for establishing regional school academy programmes and staging competitive events across the continent, alongside centralised sponsorship and brand development strategies for both the CAA and WWS.
President Malboum described the partnership as a new era for African athletics and expressed confidence that it would help retain top African talent on the continent.
“We want to keep our talented athletes on the continent by using all the opportunities that Africa can offer to athletes to prevent them from changing nationality and to prevent them from travelling far away to get high performance training,” he said.
He added that WWS would play a crucial role in athlete management and funding activation to ensure the financial sustainability of the programme, stating, “We are confident that this collaboration will reshape the future of African sports and reinforces our commitment to positioning African athletes for global success.”
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