•Federations don’t own stadiums. Since 2020, Fifa has built 34 pitches in the world and 26 in Africa. Two more coming up in Burundi and Liberia”.
•Kenya is in the process of setting up a Technical Development Centre in Machakos to the tune of Sh600m from their 2022-2026 Fifa Forward 3.0 funding.
Image: HANDOUT
Football Kenya Federation (FKF) are free to apply for the new Fifa Talent Development Scheme that will see a Fifa-appointed coach sent to the country in 2024.
The program was launched last year by Fifa Chief of Global Football Development, Arsène Wenger in Kigali, Rwanda during the Fifa Congress.
Gelson Fernandes, Fifa director of member associations Africa, told a select group of journalists attending the Africa Cup of Nations in Abidjan, Ivory Coast that Kenya can expect maximum support from Fifa as they are set to launch projects on the continent.
Kenya is in the process of setting up a Technical Development Centre in Machakos to the tune of Sh600m from their 2022-2026 Fifa Forward 3.0 funding.
The Technical Development Centre will have three pitches—two of which will contain artificial grass and another one with natural grass.
There will also be administration blocks, facilities for training football coaches, referees, and kids as well as accommodation facilities and a hospital. “Kenya can expect our support,” said Fernandes.
“We’ve come from a crisis. Now we are launching some projects regarding the Technical Centre because this is important. We know that when a country comes from a suspension, it’s under restriction as far as funds are concerned and so we can’t do a lot. However, we are working with the federation to move on as well as monitoring closely because we also follow what is on the ground.”
Fifa will also be monitoring the election process that the FKF will kick-start later this year.
“The elective process will start pretty much soon with the congress at the end of the year or August or September. We are here to help the federation.”
Fifa plans to have an academy in all 211 member associations by 2027 with an appointed coach on the ground to create a sustainable legacy for long-term talent development by maximizing each participating member association’s opportunities
“The Technical Centre will represent the house of Kenyan football and it’s important for us to launch it by phase and make things come alive,” added Fernandes.
“We’ll start the second process for the talent coach in 2024 with other countries that will participate but conditions need to be fulfilled, infrastructure needs to be in place, staff also, the coaches need to be there so yeah we are working with countries. ”
On ensuring African member associations stick to the plan and see a project to completion, Fernandes said: “We can speak but without stability in the federation, we can’t do much. We send a survey to see where they stand. If a project gets stuck, it’s because from the beginning something was not followed. We have to follow every step on the way,”
Solomon Mudege, head of development programs at Fifa, told the Afcon journalists to encourage federations to become self-sufficient because at the moment up to 44 countries in Africa are not in a position to generate enough funds.
“We are encouraging them to be more self-sufficient. We talk to ministers and the government about things like tax exemption. We need the government.
Federations don’t own stadiums. Since 2020, Fifa has built 34 pitches in the world and 26 in Africa. Two more coming up in Burundi and Liberia”.
Fernandes and his team are set to visit Kenya next month for the Cecafa Annual General Meeting.