The 46th CAF Ordinary General Assembly took place yesterday, Tuesday, 22 October 2024, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, bringing together leaders and delegates of Member Associations from across Africa. It saw the gathering of African football’s top decision-makers. The assembly marks the second time Ethiopia has hosted the CAF Congress, having previously welcomed delegates in 2017.
The 46th CAF general assembly was notably attended by the head of FIFA Gianni Infantino.
This year’s gathering was a key occasion for African football, with delegates from CAF Member Associations, zonal unions, and global football figures in attendance.
Dr. Motsepe highlighted CAF’s achievements over the past year and outlined new initiatives to promote growth and investment in African football.
The agenda for the assembly included the Activity Report for 2023-24 as well as the Financial Report and the Budget for 2024-25.
CAF’s 2022-2023 audited Financial Report and 2024-2025 budget were released.
Patrice Motsepe who was elected at the helm of CAF in 2021 hailed the body’s reduction in losses.
Officially, the losses were reduced to $ 9.2 million from $ 28.9 million. And CAF has projected a net profit of $11.7 million – for the first time in years.
In his words Patrice Motsepe “We had to immediately stop the hemorrhaging and stopped the huge amount of financial problems and difficulties and the financial position of CAF was in a very, very dire condition,” Motsepe revealed.
“But also, we had to introduce a governance and ethics and make sure that there’s transparency and auditing practices that are world-class. Good progress has been made and we spent more than $50 million over the last year just on competition. The number is more like $100 million if you take into account, we had to pay $50 million to Lagardere Sports for an old problem that we have inherited that took place many, many years ago.”
The settling of the legal battle with Lagardere Sports comes years after CAF suddenly cancelled its decade-long, US$1 billion contract with the sports marketing agency.
Patrice Motsepe underlined the progress being made with African football and underlined his hopes that one day soon an African nation will lift football’s most coveted prize – the World Cup.
Until that time, said Motsepe, African Nations will continue to struggle to be taken seriously on the world’s stage. The body says this drive towards financial health will enable it to deliver on its mandate of developing football in Africa.
CAF notably relies on revenues it generates from competition, commercial revenues, and FIFA assistance among other sources of income.
Infantino spoke of the great progress being made by African footballing nations on the world’s stage and CAF’s and FIFA’s ongoing campaign against racism in football.
The Assembly also covered important discussions about the future of football on the continent, focusing on topics such as competition development, governance, and strategic partnerships.
Over the past few days, Addis Ababa has been buzzing with activity as a series of pre-congress meetings were held, including sessions for zonal unions and the CAF Executive Committee.
Additional Source: CAF, Africa News
