CAF Vice President Fouzi Lekjaa urges African football to embrace positive reforms

The President of the Royal Moroccan Football Federation, Fouzi Lekjaa, has called on African football leaders to embrace the reforms being undertaken by FIFA to speed up development of the game on the continent.

Lekjaa gave his advice to African football leaders who met at the iconic Mohammed VI Football Complex at Maamora in Sale to take part in the seminar on the development of football infrastructure on the continent.

Lekjaa, spoke first to welcome the guests at the amazing complex for football which was recently commissioned before going to the heart of the matter, saying that Africa has the potential to move forward.

“It is imperative to react and act without wasting even more time and without slacking, with the necessary determination and the goodwill of each other," Lekjaa said as he opened the seminar of all the 54 African football federations.

"You have to take advantage of the knowledge you have to move forward. But despite all the potential we have, we are often criticized for fragility, not to say underdevelopment and blocking of development,” he declared.

Aware of the difficult situation, Fouzi Lekjaa was nevertheless optimistic for the future of Africa football thanks to the talents and the ability to embrace the changes.

“Today, the context is more favorable than ever before, especially since we have an exemplary relationship with FIFA, with a young president who admires Africa. The expectations are enormous, so we have to show the world that we are capable of meeting challenges,” he said.

The president of the African Football Confederation (CAF), Ahmad Ahmad, for his part once again displayed the ambitions of the continental body in terms of infrastructure. "It is now essential for CAF that all African federations finally have stadiums to match its players and supporters," said the Malagasy.

For him, there is no longer any question of going back. “We need to speed up the process to reach the global level. We can no longer go back and will have to participate in world competitions, ”he adds.

To do this, Ahmad Ahmad encourages African federations to manage their own infrastructures within the framework of public-private partnership.