David GOMBE
FIFA President Gianni Infantino has signed an agreement with the Government of Morocco and the Moroccan Football Association (FRMF) to open the FIFA Africa Office in the country which will also co-host the FIFA World Cup 2030 with Portugal and Spain.
Mr Infantino signed the FIFA Africa Office Host Agreement in Marrakech with the Kingdom of Morocco Head of Government Aziz Akhannouch and the FRMF President Fouzi Lekjaa, in the presence of Confederation of African Football (CAF) President Patrice Motsepe. The office will be located in the Moroccan capital Rabat and is due to begin operations in 2025.
“We know how welcoming the people of Morocco are. Everybody loves Morocco. I am sure the world will celebrate Morocco and football here, again, in 2030. Congratulations and thank you! And this is why we at FIFA decided to set up our main African office here, in Morocco, in Rabat,” the FIFA President said before adding,
“I would like to thank the government. I would like to thank Morocco, all the people of Morocco. This is where we’ll draw the future of African football, together. We will write new fascinating and exciting pages for the future of African football. I am sure that, together, we will give Africa the success it deserves.”
“It’s very important for FIFA to be here, to be in Morocco, to be in Africa, to be, in fact, everywhere in the world, that’s what I was saying earlier too. It’s true that in Africa there are 54 countries, 54 CAF and FIFA member countries, but it’s with the whole world. Morocco is now the leading country of the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations, it’s the leading country of the 2017 Women’s World Cup for the next five years, it has propelled Morocco onto the world football map.”
“It’s obviously also the leading country for the FIFA World Cup in 2030, the Centenary World Cup, it’s important for us to be here, it’s a country that has done a lot in terms of football development. In recent years, not just the semi-finals, obviously, the whole world had become Moroccan in 2022 in Qatar when we saw what this magnificent national team did. But not only that, that’s not the result of chance, it’s the result of long-term work, by the president, by all Moroccans under the impetus of His Majesty, who is the real driving force of a country that has moved three speeds ahead of all others towards the future, we can see it, I was in different cities here in Morocco in recent days as well, we see what’s happening, not just at the level of football, but really at the level of society, of infrastructure, everything is ready, not only to organize the most beautiful party during the World Cup in Ville-Taronne, but everything is ready for this country to really be part of the great countries of the world in the future.
“And that’s why FIFA must be here, for this Africa-FIFA office, but as I said, it’s the World-FIFA office, it must be present everywhere. This is a strategic hub for FIFA. It’s not just an administrative hub, we’re going to take care of the federations and development in Africa, which is obviously one of the priorities, but there are other priorities, it’s football, federal football, the development of football. We have an academy, a center here, that we can use for young people, for trainers, for coaches, for referees, for medical personnel, we can do everything here. And that’s why we’re here. Morocco, obviously, will benefit, we thank them. Africa will benefit, but the whole world will benefit. We are going to project from here.” Said Infantino
Infantino also wished the best of luck to the four African representatives in the inaugural 32-team FIFA Club World Cup which will be played in the United States from Saturday, 14 June to Sunday, 13 July 2025 – Espérance Sportive de Tunisie, Al Ahly FC, Mamelodi Sundowns FC and Wydad AC.
FIFA has similar offices in Paris, Miami and Jakarta which reinforce engagement with all regions and show FIFA’s commitment to developing football across the globe.
Morocco has made extraordinary progress in the last few years, both in performances on the field and in hosting events. It will become the second African country to host the FIFA World Cup, staging the tournament jointly with Portugal and Spain in 2030, following the decision taken at the Extraordinary FIFA Congress on Wednesday, 11 December 2024.
Morocco hosted the CAF Women’s Africa Cup of Nations for the first time in 2022 and will host five successive editions of the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup starting in 2025. The country has also staged the old FIFA Club World Cup three times, mostly recently the 2022 edition, and will be the venue for the CAF Africa Cup of Nations 2025.
