FIFA DIFFERS WITH CAF IN ETHIOPIA: Hayatou refuses to acknowledge Infantino’s contribution to Africa

Newly elected FIFA President Gianni Infantino gestures as he speaks during the Extraordinary Congress in Zurich, Switzerland February 26, 2016. Swiss football executive Gianni Infantino vowed on Friday to lead FIFA, the sport's world governing body, out of years of corruption and scandal after being elected president to succeed Sepp Blatter. REUTERS/Ruben Sprich

Simmering differences between world governing body Fifa and the Confederations of African Football (CAF) played out at the general assembly of the African body in Addis Ababa yesterday.

When Fifa President Gianni Infantino was invited to address the congress, he pointed out the steps taken by his administration to promote the sport in Africa.

“My administration has done a lot for Africa compared to others in line with the promises I made during my campaign,” he said.

Infantino (pictured) pointed out the appointment of the first ever woman and African as Secretary General of the Zurich-based body as one of his major achievements. Senegalese Fatma Samoura holds the post.

“Some people did not like this but it does not matter because I believe that good talent exists all over the world and the post should not just be a preserve of a couple of European countries,” he pointed out.

He further pointed out that Fifa has increased the number of council members from Africa to seven from four a move he termed as aimed at including more ideas from the continent.

“We also realised that Africa was under represented at Fifa and had to wait for the Congress to make any contributions.

“This has now changed and we are now involving them in our day to day activities,” said the Fifa boss.

He also cited the increase of the Financial Assistance Programme (FAP) from Sh40 million per year to Sh120 million.

“Furthermore, he said every confederations including CAF will receive Sh100 million every year to organise competitions.

“The biggest benefit to Africa is increasing the number of teams in the World Cup from 32 to 48 from 2026. With this we expect Africa to have nine or ten teams which is a very big rise.”

But when he rose to speak, CAF President Issa Hayatou did not acknowledge Fifa’s contribution to African football, insisting there is still a lot of injustice to the African game.

The Cameroonian pointed out that despite Africa doing well in age group competitions, the number of teams from the continent remain the same and he insisted that this needs to change. “We have already made our displeasure known and want action to be taken in this regard,” he said.

Hayatou further complained that Fifa recently closed down two of its regional centres in Africa.

“We have not been given a good reason why this was done despite evidence that Africa has benefited immensely from having the centres,” he said.

He also complained that the FAP remains the same for all member associations despite where they come from.

The Cameroonian went on to insist that the future of African football will be decided by the continent itself even as he revealed that billions of shillings will be invested to grow the game.