Children and youth together in the community
Kédougou, Senegal · a team being formed

Football Outreach

Reaching children and youth with the love of Christ — one game at a time.

About the TeamSupport This Work
Boots on the Field
$0raised of $0 goal

One kit is a shirt, shorts, socks, boots, shin guards and a training bib — everything a player needs, $35 the set.

0% of goal41 children are waiting for one.
Give toward a kit

Every gift goes straight to the Kédougou football teams. Received and receipted through Africa Cries Out; tax-deductible. Equipment is received and handed out by the MEADBS Mission.

Kédougou, Senegal

How it started

In 2025 the mission team packed football boots and ten footballs — one for every village on the route. At Fadiga, the leprosy village, they played through the morning; at Djinjin they played into the afternoon. It was meant to be a game between other things. What the team saw in those hours — children with no ball of their own, playing as though nothing better had ever happened to them — is the reason there is football in Kédougou now.

Dozens of pairs of football boots laid out in rows on the ground, sorted before shipping
2026 · the boots, sorted and counted before the containers left.
Six boys standing under a tree, each holding a new pair of football boots
2026 · a pair each. Most of them had been playing barefoot or in sandals.
Boys sprinting for the ball on a bare earth pitch under trees at Fadiga
2026 · the game in Kédougou that the two teams grew out of.

The two teams forming today are in those same two villages. What began as a game took shape through Daniel Mbana, a local missionary of the MEADBS Mission, who now leads both sides. More than forty children have since registered, and they still share one ball between them.

ACO’s work has always begun like that, and it is beginning faster. Dr. Xu carried the medical mission on his own for years before it was a programme. VBS was first proposed in 2023 and became a ministry in 2026. Football was a day’s play in 2025, an intention in 2026, and is planned to stand as a ministry in 2027.

Football Outreach

Two teams are being formed in Kédougou — one at Fadiga, the leprosy village, and one at Djinjin, a jungle village further out. For most of these children a ball of their own and a safe place to play are hard to come by, and the Gospel is new. Football becomes the bridge: a weekly space to belong, learn character and teamwork, and hear the good news of Jesus. Both teams are led by Daniel Mbana, a local missionary of the MEADBS Mission (Friends of Africa), which has authorised them and oversees the work in Kédougou. They are intentionally open to children from the wider community.

How the teams work

  • Children and youth, roughly ages 12–16, in two age groups
  • Training twice a week — after school midweek and Sunday evenings
  • Every gathering opens with prayer and a short Bible story or character lesson
  • Coaching in football skills, teamwork, discipline, and healthy self-esteem
  • Open to the wider community — welcoming children of every background
  • Both teams led by Daniel Mbana, a local missionary of the MEADBS Mission (Friends of Africa)

Part of Children & Youth Discipleship

Football Outreach is one expression of ACO’s year-round Children & Youth Discipleship — reaching children in the communities we serve through football, VBS, and music, alongside local churches and workers.

Help these children play — and grow in Christ

A gift toward kit, footballs, and a safe field helps these two young teams belong, learn, and meet the hope of the Gospel.

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