FIFA President Gianni Infantino has congratulated Patrice Motsepe on his re-election by acclamation as the Confederation of African Football (CAF) President and highlighted the continent’s recent on- and off-the-pitch successes thanks to the confederation’s unity and strong collaboration with FIFA.

First elected head of African football’s governing body in March 2021, Mr Motsepe received another four-year term as he stood unopposed at the 14th CAF Extraordinary General Assembly in Cairo, Egypt.

In his speech to delegates, Mr Infantino highlighted that under the presidency of Mr Motsepe, who is also a FIFA Vice President, African football has flourished on the global stage.

Morocco became the first African team to reach a FIFA World Cup™ semi-final in 2022, and the continent’s teams excelled at the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023™ with three of its four representatives reaching the knockout stages.

He also noted that African countries would host the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup 2025™ (Seychelles) and the FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup 2025™ (Morocco) before Morocco is one of three co-hosts for the FIFA World Cup 2030™, making them only the second African nation to stage FIFA’s flagship men’s national team tournament.

“All this would not be possible without unity, without all of you working together in a very strong way and working as well in FIFA,” said the FIFA President ahead of the Extraordinary General Assembly voting to determine CAF’s FIFA Council members.

“As far as we are concerned in FIFA, we need to be working with each and every one of you, whatever the election results are, independent of them, we need all of you to be able to succeed because a united Africa – and let me say only a united Africa – can have a real impact on FIFA and on the world.”

In advance of the deadline for clubs to name their final squads, Mr Infantino explained that currently 147 African players representing 22 different countries would play for 16 of the 32 participating clubs at the upcoming FIFA Club World Cup 2025™. In addition, he said the continent’s football fans have four clubs –  Al Ahly FC from Egypt, Espérance Sportive de Tunis from Tunisia, Mamelodi Sundowns FC from South Africa and Wydad AC from Morocco – to support their bid to become the first true global club champions when the tournament kicks off in the United States in June.

To help the continent continue to produce top-class players, FIFA is giving the deep pool of talent in Africa – and elsewhere in the world – more opportunities to show their skills on the global stage through expanded tournaments across all age categories, notably with potentially up to 10 CAF men’s national teams playing at the FIFA World Cup 2026™. The FIFA Talent Development Scheme gives young, gifted footballers a pathway to the professional game regardless of their financial or geographical context, and five of FIFA’s 54 African Member Associations (MAs) have already established a FIFA Talent Academy. The goal is to significantly increase that number among the 75 elite facilities set to be in place globally by 2027.

Other initiatives, such as the FIFA Football for Schools programme – which has been launched in 43 of FIFA’s 54 African MAs – are making a difference to thousands of school-age children across the continent, while the FIFA Forward development programme continues to shape infrastructure.

African MAs received USD 118.7 million – the largest total of any of the six confederations – between 2016 and 2022 to fund 144 development projects and lay 94 new pitches, while more than 10,000 women and girls benefitted from the 36 competitions launched.

For the third phase of the programme, the funding for each MA has increased sevenfold since the three-year period from 2016 to USD 8 million for the 2023-2026 cycle and earlier this month deadlines for funding applications were extended, opening the door to a greater number of development projects and opportunities.

Mr Infantino noted that it would also ensure the African voice grows louder in world football.

“(The funding) which you – all of you – are investing in infrastructure and development, in women's football, in boys' development, we are creating, together with you, academies all over the continent. We are developing and making sure that referees in Africa become better and better, (the) top of the world. We are making sure that Africans can have a say, a bigger say, on the world scene. Not just at the FIFA Council or at the committee level, but also on the field for the first time in history.

“All of this is only possible thanks to the great work each and every one of you here is doing and I'm looking forward, as FIFA President, to continue working with all of you, each and every one of you, in the future years ahead, to make African football bigger, to make world football bigger.”