28 Fep 2008
VIDEO: International Relations

See what The FA does abroad, using football to unite and develop communities and societies all over the world.
An FA delegation led by Fabio Capello and Ray Clemence travel to Lesotho in Southern Africa this week where they will spend time with local schools, take part in coach education courses and visit a football festival.

On Tuesday Capello and Clemence will observe an FA Level 1 training session involving local school teachers and pupils in the capital Maseru. Then on Wednesday they will visit a festival run by Kick 4 Life, a charity that uses football to fight poverty and disease - especially HIV and AIDS which affects so many people in Africa.

At the festival both Capello and Clemence will watch the matches and offer coaching tips to the players and coaches involved.

The visit forms part of The FA's International Relations programme which delivers developmental assistance around the world. Lesotho, landlocked within the Republic of South Africa, is one of The FA’s partners under the ‘UEFA-CAF Meridian Project’ which brings together European national football associations with their counterparts in Africa.

The FA delivers at least two projects per year to its three partner countries.

The FA has been active in each of its three partner countries for over ten years and is now into the second year of a three-year development plan to take them up to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. The FA has delivered a wide range of courses in each country, ranging from football administration, refereeing, youth coaching to women’s football.

Lesotho is also one of many sub-Saharan African countries ravaged by the HIV virus which is conservatively thought to infect around a third of its population.

Stay logged on to TheFA.com this week for all the coverage of the visit.