Youth football development in Djibouti has taken major strides forward with a milestone event celebrated at its FIFA Talent Academy and the opening of a FIFA Arena mini-pitch. FIFA President Gianni Infantino and Djiboutian Football Association (FDF) President Souleiman Hassan Waberi met in FIFA’s Paris office in September 2022 and discussed how best to give children in the East African country opportunities to play football and develop their talent. With support from the FIFA Talent Development Scheme (TDS), the FDF has since established a significant youth football eco-system, including setting up youth championships and talent detection programmes for women’s and men’s national youth teams while also reinforcing coach education. The first intake of 20 boys and 20 girls into the country’s FIFA Talent Academy in Douda took place in May this year and – in the presence of His Excellency Ismaïl Omar Guelleh, the President of the Republic of Djibouti, FDF President Waberi and FIFA Member Associations Deputy Director and Regional Director for Africa Gelson Fernandes – a milestone event marked this significant step towards the FDF’s goal of seeing its teams perform competitively at international U-17 tournaments within two years.

“I remember how we discussed football development in Djibouti when I met Mr Waberi in Paris in September 2022 and I am delighted to see this project come to fruition. I am sure it will unlock opportunities for girls and boys in your country to become top-level players, which is what the FIFA Talent Development Scheme is all about,” said Mr Infantino in a video message played at the celebration, which was also attended by FIFA Director of Global Football Development Steven Martens and Ulf Schott, FIFA’s Head of High Performance. “In particular, your commitment to supporting talented girls shows that Djibouti is not only investing in the future of football, but also in the empowerment of women and the creation of a more inclusive game for generations to come.”

Established with the goal of giving youthful talent a pathway to the professional game wherever they are in the world, the TDS now has 42 operational FIFA Talent Academies worldwide, 10 of which are in Africa. This is more than half the 75 FIFA Talent Academies FIFA Chief of Global Football Development Arsène Wenger has set as a target to be established by the end of 2027. In Djibouti, the TDS has helped set up a network of 15 highly qualified coaches, all mentored by a FIFA Talent Coach. Eleven work with some 300 children across six regional development centres while four – all ‘A’ licence holders – are based at the FIFA Talent Academy, which can accommodate up to 80 boys and 40 girls as they refine their football skills alongside their academic education. “This academy's modern facilities make it a unique centre of excellence in East Africa,” Mr Infantino added. “For the first time, children in Djibouti now participate in local youth championships, at Under-14 and Under-15 level, and I wish you the very best of luck in achieving your goal of seeing these players performing competitively at international at U-17 tournaments in the near future.”

Djibouti also celebrated the opening of its first FIFA Arena mini-pitches at the Palmeraie and Dogley primary schools, becoming the fifth African country to join the initiative. The FDF and its partners have plans to install at least 10 more mini-pitches across the country next year. Launched earlier this year to follow up on a pledge made by Mr Infantino at the International Summit on Sports for Sustainable Development in Paris in July 2024, FIFA Arena aims to give schoolchildren in underprivileged areas access to football with the ultimate goal of establishing at least 1,000 new mini-pitches globally by the time of the FIFA Congress in 2031.