The Director General of the Ivorian Office for School and University Sports (OISSU), Koné Mamadou Souleymane announced the start of the main stages of his 2022-2023 sports season during a press conference he hosted on Wednesday 18 January 2023, at the country headquarters of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) in Abidjan.
According to the Director General of OISSU, the scheme of participation for each institution consists of engaging in the desired disciplines, taking out licenses for each actor in order to benefit from the insurance coverage available to OISSU, preparing athletes and teams, to participate in technical meetings and of course to show up at the competition venues in accordance with the programme.
According to the first manager of Oissu, technically, the competitions of this season will be organized according to a format of disciplines and categories. This involves the organization of two competition phases, namely an intra-departmental phase which will end with finals and a district phase, also marked by finals.
Several disciplines and categories have also been selected. Thus we will have football at primary and secondary level, in the minimal, cadet, junior and senior categories; handball at primary level, for girls and boys as well as at secondary level in the minimal, cadet, junior and senior categories; secondary school basketball, in the junior and senior categories, for girls and boys and finally secondary school athletics, for girls and boys. “It remains understood that, given the importance of each discipline in the development of the child, competitions in other sports disciplines that can be practiced in schools may be organized as sports events, with a view to democratization of physical and sporting activities, but supported by other sources of funding (sponsors, patrons)”, specified the Director General of Oissu.
With regard to the practical arrangements, Mr. Souleymane Koné indicated that the commitment to competitions must be authorized by the Head of the establishment and is done with the Coordinator of the Department of School Life of the locality. He also specified that the license is compulsory for each athlete, coach and guide who takes part in school and university sports competitions. “It is made available by OISSU in the delegations,” he says.
He took the opportunity to give the timetable for the season. According to him, the organization of the interdepartmental competitions phase began on December 7, 2022 and runs until February 10, 2023. It was preceded by the organization of local back-to-school meetings and the development and validation of training programs. competitions. The organization of the departmental finals within each department is scheduled from February 23 to March 5, 2023. As for the district finals in which the departmental champion teams will take part, in the 14 districts of Côte d’Ivoire, they will take place from March 11 to March 25, 2023.
This season projects the participation of 100,000 licensees (athletes, young officials, coaches); 2,500 establishments involved; 5,000 teams; 85,000 athletes; of 10,000 coaches and 34,000 matches.
Cyprian K.