Capello set for Lesotho coaching visit

England coach Fabio Capello is to make a flying visit to Lesotho as part of a FIFA initiative to help improve the standard of African grassroots football coaching ahead of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

The trip could also have the benefit for England of helping them gain support in their bid to host the 2018 World Cup finals.

Capello and former England goalkeeper Ray Clemence, now the Football Association (FA) head of national teams after the Italian dispensed with his services as a goalkeeping coach, are due to fly in to Lesotho on Tuesday.

They will then see FA coaches conducting a training session involving local schoolteachers and children.

The FA, with the support of FIFA, have agreed to help the game develop in southern African countries ahead of the World Cup finals by providing equipment and qualified coaches as well as sponsoring tournaments.

It is hoped by 2010 that as many local teachers as possible will have taken the FA level one course and so will be able to coach to a high standard schoolchildren in rural areas when access to football is limited.

The FA also aim to assist the Lesotho, Botswana and Malawi football associations by installing community-based football facilities in the run-up to 2010.

Capello and Liverpool great Clemence will on Wednesday, before flying back to London, attend the day-long ‘Kick4Life’ football festival.

‘Kick4Life’ is a charity which uses football to help fight poverty and diseases such as HIV and AIDS in the world’s poorest countries. Capello and Clemence will then observe an HIV testing demonstration.

Capello was appointed after England’s failure to qualify for Euro 2008. England begin their campaign to qualify for the 2010 World Cup finals away to minnows Andorra on September 6.