2023 ISF World Schools Championship (Football):
Girls:
- Gold: China 1
- Silver: China 2
- Bronze: Uganda (St Noa Girls Zzana)
Boys:
- Gold: France
- Silver: Morocco
- Bronze: Croatia
It was excitement at the Moulay Abdellah Stadium in Rabat city, Morocco as the 14th ISF World Schools Football Championship officially came to an end on Friday night.
Uganda’s St Noa Girls Zzana was among the teams on the podium as they won bronze in girls’ football.
St Noa Girls Zzana overcame Germany 2-0 at FUS Stadium in Rabat City during the bronze medal match.
Peace Olga Niyomwungere and second half subsistute Jowelia Nagadya scored the goals, both in the second half.
There were unlimited bundles of joy as the players and officials majestically walked to the podium to receive the bronze medals and accompanying trophy.
“This is a good motivation” captain Sarah Babirye stated. “We return home with something and I want to thank all the organizers, my coaches, managers, teammates and fans for pushing us. We pick a lot of lesssons from this tournament going forward” she added.
The team head coach James Mukubya appreciated the team effort from all her players for the bronze reward.
“After slipping in the semi-finals, we went back and refocused to finish the tournament on a high note. This is what we exactly did and I wish to thank all my players. As we return home, there will be recovery time as we plan for FEASSSA games in Rwanda” Mukubya revealed.
In the final, China 1 recovered from a goal down to defeat counterparts China two 2-1 during the exciting duel.
Captain Wang Dantong put China 2 in the lead with her 7th goal of the competition.
In the second half, China returned completely a different entity scoring through Yu Zhang’s brace to overturn the game in their favour.
France won the boys’ contest with a sole strike by Wael Debbiche over hosts Morocco to take the boys’ gold.
Croatia finished as the boys’ bronze medalists.
Ukraine (girls) and Mexico (boys) teams took the respective fair play awards.
ISF president Laurent Petrynka lauded the hosts (Morocco) as well as participating countries for the sportsmanship spirit.
“Footbal in schools is about the spirit of brotherhood, talent development and fair play. I want to salute the Kingdom of Morocco for being good hosts and all the participating countries” ISF president remarked.
China was officially presented with the ISF flag ahead of the 2024 games in Dalia city.
Meanwhile, Amus College (Uganda) overcame Nigeria 2-1 in one of the final classification duels lined up at the FUS training complex.
Kibuli S.S lost 5-6 in post-match penalties to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia at Muhammed VI complex. Normal time had failed to produce any goal.
On Saturday and Sunday, the countries will engage in the nations’ and cultural nights festivities.
