Motsepe and Infantino open CAF strategy conference

Confederation of African Football (CAF) President Patrice Motsepe says that while they’ve increased grants to their 54 member associations from over 200,000 to 700,000 dollars, results are more important than investment in making football in member associations world-class standard.

While speaking on the opening day of the CAF strategy conference in Sal Island, Cape Verde, Motsepe called for the improvement of refereeing and other aspects of football on the African continent to world-class standards.

Meanwhile, FIFA president Gianni Infantino has acknowledged strides made by African football under Motsepe’s presidency and believes having a CAF strategy conference is a move in the right direction.

The world’s leading football experts are among those attending CAF strategy conference in Cape Verde, in West Africa.

CAF’s 54 member associations are represented at the conference that was opened on Thursday by Motsepe, Infantino and the president of Cape Verde, Dr Janira Hopffer Almada.

Motsepe says the CAF strategy conference’s main objective is to take lessons from 2026 FIFA World Cup and also discuss making football in member associations to be of world class.

While some African countries still play their home matches on foreign grounds because of not having stadiums that meet both CAF and FIFA standards, Infantino says there’s a huge improvement.

He says having CAF strategy conference was move in the right direction for CAF.

Meanwhile, Motsepe has re-affirmed CAF’s support for Infantino in next year’s FIFA presidential elections to be held in Rabat, Morocco.

The CAF Conference strategy will conclude on Friday with FIFA Chief of Global Football Development Arsene Wenger, leading discussions on what 10 Africans did right at the 2026 FIFA World Cup and what could be done to improve for the next global showpiece in 2030.

Video: CAF Strategy Conference