CAF for private investors’ aid to build stadia

Image: Patrice Motsepe, CGZ G3N3, CC BY-SA 4.0

The African soccer leader Patrice Motsepe was re-elected recently as the President of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) and urged working with the private financiers to help the federations build the national stadiums in the countries where Government budgets are tight.

‘AP’ stated that the 54-member federations of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) – 12 of whom currently cannot host national-team games in international competitions – elected Motsepe by acclaim unopposed to have a second four-year term.

6th of October City (Egypt)-based the Confederation of African Football (CAF) is the administrative and controlling body for association football, beach soccer and futsal in Africa. It was established on February 8^th, 1957.

Motsepe said at a post-election news conference in Cairo (Egypt) recently, “I was in Rwanda recently for a new stadium and I was in Kenya, in Uganda, in Tanzania. The new stadiums are being built because the Governments are beginning to recognize that football is an important part of the development and growth of a country.”

‘AP’ further stated that Motsepe, a South African billionaire with mining interests, also renewed his $300,000-a-year position as a Vice-President at FIFA.

The Owner of the South African professional football club Mamelodi Sundowns F.C. which will play in the FIFA Club World Cup™ in the United States in June next year Motsepe has strong political connections as the brother-in-law of the President of South Africa Cyril Ramaphosa.

The Mamelodi Sundowns Football Club (simply known as Sundowns) is a South African professional football club based in Mamelodi, Pretoria (South Africa) in the Gauteng Province that plays in the Premiership, the first tier of the South African football league system. Founded in the 1920s the team plays its home games at the 51,762-capacity Loftus Versfeld Stadium in Arcadia, Pretoria (South Africa).

The 2026 FIFA World Cup™, marketed as the FIFA World Cup 26™, will be the 23^rd FIFA World Cup™, the quadrennial international Men’s soccer championship contested by the national teams of the member associations of FIFA. The tournament will take place from June 11^th-July 19^th, 2026. It will be jointly hosted by 16 Cities in three North American countries. The main host country of matches is the United States while Canada and Mexico will be the auxiliary hosts. The tournament will be the first to be hosted by three nations.

Motsepe referred to his talks with the other heads of the African Governments and told the African soccer leaders – “Many of the heads of State I meet they say to me ‘Whatever money we have we have got to pay back our loans. We love football but we have to ask ourselves should we take the money to build a stadium or build a hospital or build a clinic or spend more on education?’ There is a love for football but the support of the Government is not as strong as it can be. And it is not because the Governments don’t love football.”

Motsepe said there are now only 12 CAF members compared to 38 in recent years which do not have stadiums of a high enough standard to be certified for the international games.

Those include Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, The Gambia, Namibia, and Zimbabwe which have played qualifying games for the Men’s 2026 World Cup in the neutral countries – often in Morocco and South Africa.

“But for us it is 12 too many,” the CAF President said promising to engage more with the private financiers.

Added Motsepe, “You cannot develop football in any country in Africa if the national teams and the clubs do not play in front of their supporters.”

Africa has a record nine guaranteed places at the first 48-team men’s World Cup next year being hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico. At the 2022 World Cup in Qatar Morocco became the first African team ever to reach the Semifinals.

Continue to follow Coliseum for latest updates on venues business news. Coliseum is dedicated towards building the best global community of sports and entertainment venue executives and professionals creating better and more profitable venues.

Become a member of the only Global Sports Venue Alliance and connect with stadiums, arenas and experts from around the world. Apply for membership at coliseum-online.com/alliance and make use of the 365Coliseum Business.

• Tags »
• African
• budgets

« Previous News: Goldman Sachs to help Barça lower venue debt
» Next News: Durham plan elite women’s sport complex