Durban - Football development received a major boost in Pretoria when South African Football Association (SAFA) President Kirsten Nematandani officially opened the Grassroots football programme.
The development programme, funded by the world football governing body FIFA, aims to among other things, identify and nurture talent from a very young age.
"We are embarking on an important journey of repositioning our development programs; we kicked off this process with a SAFA NEC retreat hosted by FIFA in Robben Island, we came up with a declaration that is aimed to refine our football in totality," said Nematandani.
The focus will also be placed on administration and the technical aspects of the game.
"Our commitment is to see a total revolution of football in the country, and the start of this process is through grassroots football," he said.
FIFA's development officer Ashford Mamelodi said South Africa has the capacity to revive its football development programmes.
"This coaching seminar is a positive start in the process of repositioning the development programmes. FIFA has committed resources to ensure that the programme is a huge success," said Mamelodi.
A total of 30 coach-educators will participate in the Pretoria seminar under the guidance of FIFA instructors Horst Kriete and Yvon Avry.
The programme will culminate into a grassroots festival on May 22 at the Mamelodi Central Grounds.
Twenty-six of the participants are from the 26 SAFA regions whilst the four participants are from the South African Schools Football Association (SASFA).
A total of 1500 children are expected to participate at the upcoming festival.
The main purpose of the seminar is to empower coach educators on how to organise the grassroots festivals which are used to introduce children to football from the ages of six to 12 years old.
The SAFA boss also paid tribute to FIFA for their support in the initiative and appealed to coaches attending the seminar to work diligently in teaching everyone interested in coaching grassroots football.
