The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has announced launching a research centre aimed at assisting member associations with the development of their football.

CAF’s Member Associations Director, Sarah Mukuna, who made the announcement on Monday, said with the establishment of the center known as CAF Research Hub, the confederation had made an investment into a new system to help zonal unions and member associations.

“The CAF Research Hub is aimed to provide data-driven insights into African football with the objectives of gathering evidence for theories that are relevant to the African context and conduct research that informs policy decisions,” she said.

She added that in addition to research, which had been crucial to the growth of football in recent years, the centre would concentrate on information collection and usage.

“The confederation has invested in the new hub to support its member associations and zonal unions. With the CAF Research Hub, we will contribute to developing and disseminating knowledge to our Member Associations and the African football stakeholders,” the director said.

“In the past years, CAF has added research on youth football, women’s football, football administration, the medical field, and level of performance will be given emphasis at the center, which are all run by the CAF Member Associations Division.

“In addition, a pilot project will be launched across the six zonal unions during the second edition of the CAF African Schools Programme, making for an opportunity to obtain context-based information.

“Using the data at hand, the project will shed light on the impact of the African Schools Program and the youth football experience in Africa.

“Upon the completion of the research project’s first phase, CAF intends to transform its development structures to offer administrative and sporting services to all member associations”, she added.

This development is coming amid a period of growing success for African football, particularly after Morocco’s World Cup exploits in Qatar.

Aurelio De Laurentiis, the President of current Italian Serie A champions, Napoli, has once again insisted that his top striker will not be leaving the club in the next transfer widow as he (Osimhen) is close to extending his stay at the club.

The announcement will be bad news for a number of top European clubs, including Real Madrid, Arsenal, Manchester United, Bayern Munich, and Chelsea who were all hoping to capitalize on the Nigerian striker’s contract situation to lure him away from Italy.

The hitman currently has one and a half years left on his existing contract and had not indicated any interest in renewing the terms, but the Italian champions want to him to stay at the club beyond 2025.

De Laurentiis, who spoke to Italian sports journalists at a football award ceremony on Saturday, expressed confidence that his star man was set to pen a new deal at the club.

“For Osimhen we are at the signing stage which had been pending since the summer,” he said.

This is not the first time the Napoli chief will pour cold water on a move by the 24-year-old Nigerian forward.

Notably was the last transfer window when a top club in the Saudi Arabian league tabled a mouthwatering offer said to be in excess of €200 million for Osimhen but the hard-nosed De Laurentiis refused to play ball, insisting that his frontman was not for sale at any amount.