At a three-day seminar recently concluded in Johannesburg, FIFA Secretary General Jérôme Valcke underscored the organisation's support of African football and expressed a desire for an African team to reach the FIFA World Cup™ Final. The seminar saw the participation of dignitaries from 26 member associations from across the continent. Chaired by South Africa 2010 CEO and South African Football Association (SAFA) president Danny Jordaan, the convention succeeded in raising awareness on reforms and standards in football governance, addressing the problems faced by African countries and ways of combating them, and optimising the benefit of FIFA's development programmes. “All the programmes we will discuss at this seminar, we can guarantee them to you until 2022, and this is both powerful and remarkable,” said Valcke as it got underway. “We will make sure that you can improve and develop, that you can professionalise your leagues and that you can develop grassroots football for everyone who wants to play football in Africa. We will help you get better and we want an African team to soon reach the FIFA World Cup Final.” Suketu Patel, the Council of Southern Africa Football Associations (COSAFA) president and a CAF vice-president, thanked FIFA and urged African countries to strive towards improvement. “We must be grateful to FIFA,” he said. “Each African member association has received around USD 6m in the last decade. This raises the question: What have we done with the opportunities that we have been given? Did we seize the opportunity to improve structurally, or were we content to still do the same as before but more extensively? We must show our gratitude to FIFA by doing everything we can to all become, one day, self-sustainable and accountable.” Sindisiwe Mabaso-Koyana, the deputy chairwoman of FIFA's Audit and Compliance Committee, looked ahead to the FIFA Congress, which makes decisions relating to FIFA's governing statutes and the method by which they are implemented and applied: “In football, in FIFA, every decision comes from you, its members, at the Congress. We need to stand to public scrutiny because, even if FIFA is not a public company, everything it does is public and touches the public area. So we must be transparent, and everyone in football must have the same treatment and receive the same conditions.” Valcke passionately went on to stress FIFA's commitment to developing the sport across the globe. “To those who doubt or criticise us, I can say that FIFA is doing a lot, and is doing very well,” he said. “We have a stronger organization; football is strong. All the commitments we are going to make for you, in terms of development support, we can guarantee them until 2022.” “To those who say we are not about football, I can say that we, at FIFA, are breathing football every day – we work to develop football all day long. I am proud of what we do around the world for the greater good of football.” Presidents, secretary-generals and technical directors from the governing bodies of the following member associations attended the seminar: Angola, Botswana, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. On the other hand, the Confederation of African Football President (CAF), Issa Hayatou joined world dignitaries in Kigali, Rwanda to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Rwanda Genocide. He visited the Kigali Genocide Memorial where he laid a wreath on a mass grave. President Hayatou who was also representing FIFA in his capacity as FIFA Vice President said, “Football will always be used for unity and reconciliation among people This tragedy should not be allowed to happen again in the history of human beings. Football will continue serving as a tool to unite African people and the sport will continue to play an important role to unite people and countries, helping prevent and fight against genocide worldwide.” He added, “What happened here in 1994 should never be allowed to occur in any country, be it in Africa or in the world. As CAF, we are here to show the world that we can be united by the use of a powerful tool called football. Football is a powerful force that reaches out to everyone; fostering positive transformation and development in many lands.” Since the genocide, Rwanda has made many strides and in football has hosted the African Youth Championship (U-20) in 2009, the CAF Under-17 Championship in 2011 and will host the 2016 African Nations Championship (CHAN) tournament. President Hayatou went on to say CAF awarded Rwanda the right to host CHAN 2016 to assist the ongoing efforts with unity and reconciliation in the country. He said the continent was looking forward to converging on Rwanda with the world watching not only the best local African talent compete for honours, but a nation showcasing how it has emerged from the genocide and continued to develop. President Hayatou was accompanied on his visit to the Memorial by CAF 2nd Vice-president Almamy Kabele Camara, CAF Secretary-General Hicham El-Amrani and Rwanda Football Federation Chairman Nzamwita Vincent Degaule. El-Amrani has urged Rwanda to keep up the good work in preparing for the 2016 African Nations Championship (CHAN) tournament. El-Amrani made the remarks after visiting the venues earmarked for the tournament. The delegation was led by CAF President Issa Hayatou including 2nd Vice-President Almamy Kabele Camara, who doubles as chairman of the Organising Committee for CHAN. Rwandan Minister of Sports and Culture Protais Mitali and Infrastructure Minister Silas Lwakabamba, as well as Degaule Vincent Nzamwita, president of the Rwanda Football Federation (FERWAFA), were also part of the inspection. The CAF delegation also met with officials of the Local Organising Committee to discuss issues related to the organisation of the tournament. Following the inspection, El-Amrani revealed that Rwanda was on the right track to host the tournament in 2016. “We are glad because we had the ministers of sports and culture, as well as infrastructure, with us while visiting different host venues and this shows commitment at the highest level. We know that when President Paul Kagame promises something, he does deliver and Rwanda has always delivered and this was proven by hosting the 2009 U-20 and 2011 U-17 tournaments and there is no reason why it won't be ready for the CHAN tournament. “Rwanda has infrastructure and facilities in place but they need to be upgraded and improved for the 16-team CHAN tournament to take place and allow attractive play. “We have the commitment from the authorities and local organising committee to do what is necessary to make sure the tournament is a success,” El-Amrani concluded. Amahoro Stadium, Stade de Kigali, Stade de Rubavu and Stade de Huye will be upgraded to meet the standards according to FERWAF President Nzamwita. “We have given CAF our commitment to have the stadiums upgraded and ready in time for the tournament. We have no excuse not to prepare for a successful CHAN tournament. We are ready to host the tournament,” said Nzamwita. It will be recalled that CAF President Hayatou endorsed Rwanda to host the 2016 edition of CHAN in January 2011 after the country staged two successful youth continental tournaments in a space of three years — the 2009 Africa Youth championship and the African U-17 Championship two years later. CHAN, a tournament designed exclusively for footballers playing in their domestic leagues, has since been held in Cote d'Ivoire (2009), Sudan (2011) and South Africa (2014).
