Football development in Africa   |13 July 2023

Caf president Patrice Motsepe (Photo: Contributed)  

‘Government support imperative,’ says Caf president

Football will not develop as it should in those African countries where teams cannot play at home and governments do not help with the development of stadium and other infrastructure.

This was averred by the Confederation of African Football (Caf) president Patrice Motsepe in Abidjan, Ivory Coast on Tuesday during separate meetings with his organisation’s six zonal unions ahead on the 45th Caf ordinary general assembly (OGM) today.

The Caf president said football would not develop as it should if countries did not have proper facilities and teams could not play their international matches at home in certified stadiums in front of their public to motivate the youth and the population, and draw sponsors.

“Facilities and certified stadiums cannot be built without the support of governments,” he stressed, adding that member associations, governments and the private sector should work in partnership.

Caf is made up of 54 member associations and 22 of them, including the Seychelles Football Federation (SFF), do not have certified stadiums to host their international matches at home.

In most of those 22 countries, Fifa is helping to upgrade facilities through the Fifa Forward programme, but governments also had to contribute, he said, because Fifa or Caf help alone will never be enough to solve all the infrastructure problems in all the countries.

Mr Motsepe said he had brought this issue to the attention of all the heads of state he had had the chance to converse with and they all understood that infrastructure was a challenge that had to be dealt with collectively if football was to develop as it should.

It must be noted that in the case of Seychelles, work is ongoing to resurface the playing field at Stad Linite and upgrade the lighting system through Fifa Forward and SFF funding. Other associated renovation work has also to be completed to meet the Caf stadium certification requirements.

Inadequate, not up to standard or poor infrastructure was the leitmotif of Council of Southern Africa Football Associations (Cosafa) member countries’ representatives taking part in the zonal meeting chaired by Caf president Motsepe on Tuesday.

Seychelles was represented by SFF vice-president Dolor Ernesta and general secretary Denis Rose who will also attend the Caf OGM today during which the Caf qualification draw for the 2026 Fifa World Cup is also expected to be made.

Other issues of concern raised by the Cosafa zone were the difficulty obtaining sponsorship and inability of amateur clubs to become self-sustaining, let alone comply with all the new Caf club licensing procedures. 

While members appreciated the efforts of Caf and Fifa to train referees, coaches, safeguarding and other officials, they deplored the lack of training programmes for the member associations’ staff to facilitate compliance with the ever-changing administrative procedures.

Another point of concern expressed by all the delegates present was the travelling cost which MAs must incur to take part in competitions to fulfill the Caf and Fifa requirements, especially those who must play both their home and away matches abroad.

The 54 Caf member associations are divided into six zonal unions. Seychelles forms part of the 14-nation Cosafa zonal union alongside Angola, Botswana, Comoros, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Contributed