FIFA President Gianni Infantino on Thursday, October 8, highlighted Morocco’s progress in football infrastructure, noting that the Kingdom was among the African countries where projects had been carried out as part of efforts to develop the game across the continent.
Speaking at the Confederation of African Football (CAF) Strategy Conference, held from October 7 to 9 in the West African country, Infantino highlighted Morocco alongside other nations investing in football facilities. He pointed to the construction of national training centers, stadiums and competition infrastructure, as well as new headquarters for football federations.
Grand stade de Tanger. Le360
Infantino said FIFA had invested $1 billion in Africa over the past decade, including $500 million in the last four years. The organization has also prepared reports covering 124 projects and other initiatives implemented across the continent.
Pointing to improvements in football infrastructure, the FIFA president noted that 26 African countries were unable to host their international matches at home two years ago because they lacked stadiums meeting the required standards. Today, 40 countries can host such matches on their own territory.
He reaffirmed FIFA’s commitment to identifying further opportunities and resources to support the development of football infrastructure across Africa, with the goal of enabling every country on the continent to play its international matches at home.
Infantino also highlighted the progress made by African teams on the international stage. He noted that nine of the 10 African national teams at the 2026 World Cup reached the knockout stage, compared with none of the continent’s five representatives at the 2018 edition.
He said the results reflected the work carried out across Africa, adding that African talent was gaining a growing presence in world football and needed more opportunities to demonstrate its abilities at the highest level.
CAF President Patrice Motsepe, for his part, described the strategy conference as an unprecedented meeting. It provides the 54 member associations with a forum to take an in-depth look at the progress of African football and identify areas that still need improvement.
Motsepe noted that ordinary general assemblies do not always allow enough time for such discussions. He also stressed the importance of collective work and cooperation across African football, urging stakeholders to build on the gains made in recent years. He praised the commitment of leaders from all 54 member associations and officials from CAF’s various zones to developing the game across the continent.
The CAF Strategy Conference will continue on Friday with a session reviewing the performance of African national teams at the 2026 World Cup. Participants will include FIFA’s Chief of Global Football Development Arsène Wenger and several technical figures, among them Morocco head coach Mohamed Ouahbi.
