By Brian Mboh
The battle to dethrone the reigning title holders—the Far North region champions of the 2024 and 2025 editions of the National Football Academy (ANAFOOT) Regional Poles Talent Tournament—will take place in Bertoua from July 18 to 26, 2026.
Over nine days, the youth football jamboree—expected to be held at the Bertoua Municipal Stadium—will bring together 160 ANAFOOT conscripts, both male and female, from the U-17 to U-20 age categories.
Selected from the 10 regional poles, the players were chosen following evaluations in their respective zones. The opening match is scheduled for Monday, July 19, 2026, at 3 p.m., at the Bertoua Municipal Stadium. The 200 players will compete in 10 teams of 20 each. The tournament is divided into two poles.
The ANAFOOT Regional Poles Tournament brings together young male players currently training at the Academy’s 10 regional poles, across the U-17 to U-20 age groups.
It gives young ANAFOOT trainees the chance to become more competitive while allowing coaches to assess players’ skill levels and showcase their talent in a high-level football setting. Beyond increasing visibility, the tournament will help optimize players’ learning and evaluate the effectiveness of the training programs implemented.
The event will also encourage each trainee to adopt a structured and rational approach that includes performance, civic responsibility, good citizenship, and ethics. Elite clubs and other teams competing in local leagues will have the opportunity to recruit ANAFOOT players. A panel of experts will monitor matches to identify the most talented players.
These standouts will be presented and selected during a special ceremony, marking the fourth such draft in Cameroon. Created in 2014 by presidential decree, ANAFOOT is mandated, among other responsibilities, to train young people in high-level football.
Since March 2018, it has trained more than 2,000 young male and female trainees, and the Center, South-West, East, and Far North regions have won the competition since its inception.
