FIFA: African football needs proper governance
Reuters - Wednesday 30 June 2010, 10:40
JOHANNESBURG - FIFA has spent $70 million
on helping to develop football in Africa as a legacy from the 2010
World Cup, but proper governance is needed if the sport is to
thrive on the continent, officials said on Wednesday.
FIFA development director Thierry Regenass said professional
management of the game in Africa was often lacking and needed to
be improved if football was to grow.
"Professionalism is an essential aspect to create the basis
for the future," he told a news briefing in Johannesburg.
"We need to invest in not infrastructure but grassroots,
youth and professional leagues. This is our objective over the
next years because it is through this aspect we will have
vibrant national teams."
Africa's first hosting of the World Cup finals has failed to
deliver expected improvement in the competitiveness of its
representatives at the finals.
Ghana were the only one of the six African sides to progress
past the first round at the tournament in South Africa.
FIFA said it had spent a total of $39 million on building
artificial turf fields in 48 countries with three more still to
be completed. It said it had also spent a further $14.5 million
on training and equipment for African countries in a special
development programme, first implemented in 2006.
Each African country also receives an annual grant of
$250,000 from FIFA but Regenass said some diverse sources of
income were needed if the African game was to grow.
"In Africa, there are usually two sources of income. The
government puts money into the national team and FIFA with its
financial assistance programme. There needs to be diversified
sources of income to development African football," he said.
"There is a strong need for a better youth championships and
for the national leagues, which are the heartbeat of football in
Africa."
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