The president of the governing body for football in Africa, the Confederation of African Football (Caf), Patrice Motsepe, HAS ADVISED his successor not to distance himself from other organizations.
Motsepe (64) took over the position of leading Caf in 2021, and was voted to continue in this position in March last year.
He said he is impressed to see how African football has grown and he wishes that will continue even if he is no longer in the seat he is expected to leave in 2029.
Africa was represented by 10 countries for the first time at the recently concluded World Cup in the United States, Mexico and Canada, including South Africa.
Nine advanced to the knockout stage, the Last 32. The country that went the farthest was Morocco, which was eliminated by France in the quarterfinals.
Motsepe said that FIFA’s decision, under the leadership of president Gianni Infantino, to increase the number of countries playing in the tournament had a positive impact, especially in African countries.
“I am proud of what Gianni and the entire FIFA team have done. It has made a big difference to increase the number of African teams in the World Cup,” said Motsepe at a press conference in Sandton, Johannesburg, yesterday.
“We must be smart as Africans. We need to have good relations, work together with other organizations. It is very important because one day we will need their votes for certain things.
“We need to have friends, people we can work with, with whom we have a good relationship. We cooperate well with UEFA and we support each other a lot in growing football. They say they learn something from us, and we also learn a lot from them.
“We also learn from other organizations such as CONMEBOL, the Asian organization, the Oceania CONCACAF and Fifa, which we all manage. Gianni is very loyal to Africa and to me personally.
“The person who will take the position after me must wake up. I mean he must approach other people. It is important that there is a FIFA president who is committed to developing Africa like Gianni Infantino.
“You need to be able to work with other organizations because we need football to use it to develop our continent.”
Motsepe went on to say that there will be a meeting that will bring together experts from different fields in Africa, where new strategies will be established to put African football at another level.
He said he expects next year’s Africa Cup of Nations to be held in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania to be a success and requests to host the 2028, 2032 and 2036 have already started.