A team of 60 student-athletes has departed Nigeria for Annaba, Algeria, to participate in the maiden edition of the African School Sports Championship, taking place from July 26 to August 5, 2025.
The Nigerian contingent will compete in 10 sporting disciplines: athletics (12 athletes), swimming (8), football (18), taekwondo (4), beach canoeing (4), badminton (3), 3×3 basketball (3), beach volleyball (2), cycling (2), and table tennis (2).
Director General of the National Sports Commission (NSC), Hon. Bukola Olopade, hailed the initiative as a pivotal step in Nigeria’s grassroots sports development:
“This championship means a lot to us because it is about planting seeds. These student-athletes are ambassadors of our future. We are deliberate in creating pathways from the classroom to the global stage.”
Before their departure, the athletes were camped at the Moshood Abiola National Stadium in Abuja for intensive training sessions.
Organized by the Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa (ANOCA), the African School Games aim to instill Olympic values in youth and serve as a structured platform for talent discovery and development across the continent.
In compliance with international guidelines, all Nigerian participants submitted valid school certificates. The NSC, in partnership with the Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC), also obtained parental authorizations for all underage participants.
Nigeria’s involvement in the championship is part of the federal government’s broader vision to elevate sports at the grassroots level, in line with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s goal of building a robust and sustainable sports ecosystem that nurtures young talent and facilitates their progression to elite levels.
The historic competition will span four Algerian cities; Annaba, Constantine, Sétif, and Skikda—and bring together 3,018 athletes and coaches from 51 African countries to compete in 25 disciplines.
The event is the result of a memorandum of understanding signed between ANOCA and the International School Sport Federation during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. Backed by the Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune and supported by the International Olympic Committee, the championship aims to foster cultural exchange and long-term sporting development among African youth.
