Schools cup wins Vogts's confidence

The Association of Football Federations of Azerbaijan (AFFA) has launched a schools football competition in cooperation with the country's education ministry, the Azercell Telecom company and the Sabayil district of Baku.

The Baku schools cup kicked off as a six-a-side championship for secondary school pupils, with a minimum of one girl per team. The competition's inaugural staging was in February and featured 16 secondary schools from Sabayil – which involved a total of 254 players, parents, teachers and supporters.

The plan is to extend the tournament to cover all schools in Baku, and ultimately to reach beyond the capital city to every region in the country. Once the competition goes nationwide it could engage up to 100,000 youngsters. The final of the first edition was held at the Baku sports palace in the presence of Azerbaijan's national team coach Berti Vogts.

Vogts gave an emphatic thumbs-up to the event, saying: "I applaud everyone involved in running this project, including the AFFA. It will help to increase the game's popularity and appeal among young people, which is vital because a healthy lifestyle has to be a priority for the next generation in Azerbaijan. The AFFA is helping to achieve this through football."