Soccer’s ‘most important project’ begins, not the World Cup

By GERALD IMRAY
AP Sports Writer

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — Soccer has embarked on probably its most ambitious global youth development program. It has an ultimate goal of delivering millions of soccer balls and a coaching program to 700 million children between the ages of 4 and 14 around the world. The Football For Schools project was launched in 2019 but came to a grinding halt because of the COVID-19 pandemic. It has now been relaunched. That’s meant it’s been overshadowed by the buildup to the World Cup but South Africa program manager Steve Pila says it’s still “the most important project in the world of football.”