signing of an agreement on the professionalization of African referees • Malijet
The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) and the Confédération Africaine de Football (CAF), signed a memorandum of understanding on the development and training of referees from the African continent, during the 13th CAF Extraordinary General Assembly held on November 26, in Cairo (Egypt).
A new page is being written for the “judges” of the African round ball. This historic agreement signed between FIFA and CAF aims to develop and professionalize the referees of the continent. The said agreement was signed by FIFA President Gianni Infantino and CAF President Patrice Motsepe during the 13th CAF AGE, we learned on the official website of the governing body of African football.
Still according to the website of the African Football Confederation, the objective of this arbitration treaty called Arbitration “Star Project” is a project aimed at producing world-class referees from the African continent and also contributing to the development of referees in the regions. 54 member associations of the governing body of African football.
The “Star Project” program was presented during the CAF EGM by the president of the FIFA Referees Committee, Pierluigi Collina. He said during his introductory speech that “FIFA and CAF wish to identify 24 best candidates from all over Africa to participate in this project. We are convinced that these referees will not only professionalize refereeing more in Africa, but also that they will also give some things in return to the young referees of their association so that they can themselves become instructors ”.
World football governing body chairman Gianni Infantino said, “ refereeing is such an important part in the world of football. We must professionalize and raise the level of arbitration in Africa and ensure that we have arbitrators who are in the best conditions. This historic memorandum of understanding is just one example of how FIFA and CAF can work together to raise the standards of different aspects of football on this great continent ”.
For his part, the first person in charge of CAF indicated “Africa is embarking on a journey that will see this continent play a very important role in world football. We are clear, Africa must be the best and must produce the best players, administrators and referees. We want to see African referees as officers in the finals of the FIFA World Cup and we want to see our match officials excel. We fully support the talent we have in Africa and with this partnership with FIFA, we are taking concrete steps to move in this bold direction ”.
Mahamadou Sissouma, intern
Source: THE COUNTRY
