FIFA (www.FIFA.com) President Gianni Infantino has spoken of the need for football to strengthen its cooperation across the African continent, and has shown his support for the promotion of women’s football locally, following discussions with Moroccan Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Nasser Bourita, and the President of the Moroccan Football Association (FMRF), Fouzi Lekjaa.
The FIFA President was speaking in the Moroccan capital, Rabat, following discussions that also looked at the country’s role in continental African football and the victory of the Atlas Lions, as winners of the CAF African Nations Championship (CHAN), earlier this month.
"It’s a pleasure to be here in this magnificent country where football is so strong," the FIFA President said after the first series of meetings with FMRF officials. "I have already visited Morocco several times in the past and I noticed not only the passion for football but also the serious work of the federation, we are here to try find out how we can benefit even more from this work. The MoulayAbdellah Sports Complex in Rabat and the infrastructure in the whole country, this can benefit the country, the whole of Africa and beyond. This is why we are here, to see what else we can do through football infrastructures in Morocco to benefit men’s and women’s football, as well as youth football, and we will leave here with lots of ideas for programmes about the future."
Subsequent discussions followed with members of the Moroccan government, where the FIFA President congratulated Minister Bourita on the success of the men’s national football team in their success in the CHAN tournament in Cameroon. The FIFA President also highlighted both the country and the FMRF’s initiatives to get more girls and women involved in football, and commended the recent launch of a four-year women’s football development plan, as a significant initiative to raise the value of women's football by actively engaging girls at grassroots level in football.
"My talks with Minister Bourita were both interesting and productive, and I mentioned that Morocco is recognised as a leader in integrating more girls and women in football," the FIFA President said. "There are many positive moves, from appointment of female referee Bouchra Karboubi in the domestic league last October, to the introduction of the new women’s football development strategy by the FMRF last summer.
"There are great opportunities here, and I look forward to seeing Morocco stake their claim for a place at the FIFA Women’s World Cup. I informed the Minister that FIFA will help the federation in further developing and nurturing the women’s game throughout Morocco, so even more girls and women can become involved in football."
As a service to our readers, Around the Rings will provide verbatim texts of selected press releases issued by Olympic-related organizations, federations, businesses and sponsors.
These press releases appear as sent to Around the Rings and are not edited for spelling, grammar or punctuation.
25 Years at #1: Your best source of news about the Olympics is www.aroundtherings.com, for subscribers only
Recent Articles
Sinner-Alcaraz, the duel that came to succeed the three phenomenons
Beyond the final result, Roland Garros left the feeling that the Italian and the Spaniard will shape the great duel that came to help us through the duel for the end of the Federer-Nadal-Djokovic era.
Table tennis: Brazil’s Bruna Costa Alexandre will be Olympic and Paralympic in Paris 2024
She is the third in her sport and the seventh athlete to achieve it in the same edition; in Santiago 2023 she was the first athlete with disabilities to compete at the Pan American level and won a medal.
Rugby 7s: the best player of 2023 would only play the medal match in Paris
Argentinian Rodrigo Isgró received a five-game suspension for an indiscipline in the circuit’s decisive clash that would exclude him until the final or the bronze match; the Federation will seek to make the appeal successful.
Rhonex Kipruto, owner of the world record for the 10000 meters on the road, was suspended for six years
The Kenyan received the maximum sanction for irregularities in his biological passport and the Court considered that he was part of a system of “deliberate and sophisticated doping” to improve his performance. He will lose his record and the bronze medal at the Doha World Cup.
Katie Ledecky spoke about doping Chinese swimmers: “It’s difficult to go to Paris knowing that we’re going to compete with some of these athletes”
The American, a seven-time Olympic champion, referred to the case of the 23 positive controls before the Tokyo Games that were announced a few weeks ago and shook the swimming world. “I think our faith in some of the systems is at an all-time low,” he said.
