World Cup winner Jill Ellis applauds first FIFA Talent Academy in Africa

On Tuesday the football world governing body representatives were in Nouakchott, Mauritania to open the first ever initiative and one of 20 currently around the world.

The Academy is part of the FIFA’s Talent Development Scheme (TDS), which seeks to have a sustainable legacy for long-term development when it comes to national teams. According to FIFA, the programme promotes strength vs strength as it provides a platform for young talent to play against the best in their country and abroad.

The Academy has been set up at the headquarters of the Mauritian Football Federation (FFRIM) as acknowledgement of the work that has been done by the FA, which has shown a lot of growth.

Ellis said this was a day of celebration, especially for the people of Mauritania.

“Today is a very special day for Mauritania, for FIFA, but most importantly for the children - for the boys and girls that get to have an opportunity to come into an environment to train, to learn, to grow and to inspire them. I think that's what's so special about today and so I think it's a great celebration, an impressive opportunity and creation by Mauritania football,” said Ellis, who is also the Chief Football Officer of FIFA

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Through the TDS programme, FIFA hopes to have 75 academies worldwide by 2027 that will be run by FIFA and the host country.

In recent times FIFA appointed coaches that will run the TDS programme. These have been recruited and training by the world football governing body and placed in various Member Association – among them is former South African U20 head coach Thabo Senong, who has been assigned in Malawi. The TDS talent coaches are working under Arsene Wenger, FIFA’s Chief of Global Football Development and he is the former coach of Arsenal in England.

The TDS programme is Wenger’s brainchild and is tied to three pillars: find talented players, train them by giving them the best tools to exploit their ability and give them the opportunity to flourish.

On the sidelines of the launch of the FIFA Talent Academy, it was also announced that the Cheika Boidiya Stadium will be undergoing an expansion as part of the FIFA Forward project that was created in 2016 as a means of distributing FIFA funds equally to all of 211 Member Associations.