A Regional Development Office in Brazzaville, Congo’s capital city, has been inaugurated by the President of FIFA, Gianni Infantino.
The inauguration of the Regional Development Office, demonstrates FIFA’s commitment to support member associations through the delivery of infrastructure, competitions, development and education projects.
FIFA in 2017, took the decision to establish FIFA Regional Development Offices around the world in order to better serve its member associations and to be closer to their needs.
In total, four of these offices are located in Africa; Dakar in Senegal, Johannesburg in South Africa, Brazzaville in the Republic of the Congo and Kigali in Rwanda.
Speaking at the inaugural ceremony, President Infantino stated, “It is very important for FIFA to be present here today to listen to our member associations in central Africa and work together, we are doing this with the FIFA Forward programme that helps member associations. Investment in member associations has been multiplied by five since I arrived at FIFA. We are here today with the staff of our regional development office to help the member associations, also together with CAF, to work hand-in-hand to tackle the challenges we face in the region.”
“We increased the number of African national teams eligible to qualify for the FIFA World Cup in 2026 from five to nine or ten. So there is work to be done so that African teams don’t just participate in the FIFA World Cup 2026, but also shine there. FIFA wants to see African football reach the highest of heights and we are certain that our network of regional offices will complement the work already underway to elevate African football,” he added.
The Brazzaville Regional Development of FIFA, has been operational since November 2020, but due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, the office could not be officially inaugurated.
