Mr Thompson was given the honour of being invited to address the Confederation of African Football's annual congress in Mali ahead of the start of the African Nations' Cup tournament.

He announced that The FA would be holding workshops in administration, coaching, refereeing and marketing to help ``unlock the vast potential of the game'' in Africa over the next two years.

Mr Thompson has been determined to improve The FA's standing in international football since assuming the post of chairman.

In his speech today, in front of many FIFA dignitaries including president Sepp Blatter, he recalled how FA colleagues had presented England's bid to host the 2006 World Cup at the 2000 CAF congress in Ghana.

``Bidding for the World Cup was an important learning process. It encouraged us to improve our understanding of global football and helped us to make friendships around the world,'' he said.

While the bid was ultimately unsuccessful as England and South Africa lost out to Germany, The F.A. are following through from - and building on - overseas development promises made during the campaign.

Having set up a dedicated international relations unit under FA Executive Director David Davies, Mr Thompson stated The FA's aim of ``learning at the same time as sharing our own experiences and areas of expertise''.

To this end, workshops will soon have been held in Asia, Central and Northern America and New Zealand in the space of a year.

Now Mr Thompson has invited each of the 52 CAF countries to send a representative to four new workshops in 2002 and 2003, each of which will last two to three days.

These will be an administration workshop in South Africa, a strategic planning workshop for coaches and technical directors in Nigeria, a workshop for referee instructors in Kenya and a marketing workshop in Cameroon.

Mr Thompson recognised the huge advances made by African football over recent years, noting that England would be facing Nigeria in the forthcoming World Cup.

He added: ``I don't think it is too much of an exaggeration to say that now there is a new wind of change blowing through Africa in football, and indeed in sport in general.

``You are developing great players and great national teams whose potential is enormous. We hope that this programme of workshops can play some small part in that development process.''

Below, you can read the Chairman's speech in full:

Mr GEOFF THOMPSON'S SPEECH AT THE CAF CONGRESS, MALI

President of FIFA, Joseph Blatter, President of CAF, Issa Hayatou, Vice Presidents of FIFA, Presidents, General Secretaries, Ladies & Gentlemen

I was honoured and delighted to receive an invitation from my good friend M Issa Hayatou, back in October to attend this important event.

Not only is it the first time I have had the pleasure - and the opportunity - to come to Mali, but it is the first time that I have been present at an African Congress and it is indeed a great personal honour.

Some of you will recall that my colleagues at The Football Association have been here before, presenting England's case at the Congress in Ghana in 2000 during the bid to host the 2006 World Cup, at that time, of course, England was in competition with Africa to host this event.

This summer, we find ourselves again in competition with an African nation when we face our friends from Nigeria in the FIFA World Cup in Japan and Korea, a match I am very much looking forward to.

Football competition, of course, is what we are all about - it is our raison d'etre. And it is a real joy to see the growing strength of teams from the African confederation - although our manager, Sven-Goran Eriksson and certain of our players may see things a little differently when they take to the field against Nigeria in June.

But while we play hard on the field against other footballing nations, we at the Football Association want to increase the work that we do in partnership with our friends in football around the world.

Bidding for the World Cup was an important learning process for us; it encouraged us to improve our understanding of global football, and helped us to make friendships around the world.

In Africa, we increased our appreciation of the strengths of the football here and we are left in no doubt as to the huge potential of football in this continent.

The contact and conversations we have had with many of you in this room helped us to make up our minds that it was important to set up a formal structure to develop and enhance our international contacts.

At the end of the year 2000 therefore, we created a dedicated International Relations section at The FA to help us to build new partnerships where we could work together for the good of the game.

We created an International Development Programme to complement the ongoing initiatives by confederations and national associations to develop the game; we want to play a part in this process - to learn at the same time as share our own experiences and areas of expertise.

Our work through this Programme extends to every continent. In the last 12 months alone, we have held workshops in the Asia and CONCACAF regions, and our coaches are travelling to Auckland later this month to deliver a youth coaching workshop for the OFC.

So it was an honour to receive a visit by your president in October to discuss how CAF and The F.A. could work closely together to make sure that the vast potential of the game on this continent is unlocked; together we identified key aspects where success is paramount to ensure the health of the game.

As a result of these discussions, it is my pleasure to announce that The Football Association, in conjunction with CAF, will invite your national associations to send a representative to each of four workshops which will take place in 2002 and 2003.

An administration workshop in South Africa and a Strategic Planning Workshop for Coaches/Technical Directors in Nigeria. And next year, a Workshop for Referee Instructors in Kenya and a Marketing Workshop in Cameroon.

Of course, we have in England a long history with Africa in the political sense. Our contacts and friendships developed over many years will not change, but now, through football, I believe we can do even more.

In the last 4 years, we have worked very closely with our partners under the UEFA-CAF Meridian Project, and are proud of the excellent relationship we now enjoy with Botswana, Malawi and Lesotho.

Last year, we worked hard to develop good relations with South Africa and supported them in the aftermath of the terrible events at Ellis Park. Our "Ambassadors team", past legends of the English game, travelled to Durban to play a fund-raising match against a South African Masters XI. Since then we have hosted three delegations seeking to learn from England's experience of stadium safety issues.

But I hope our activity in Africa to date is just the start.

One of our prime ministers many years ago talked of a wind of change blowing through Africa as the continent took on a new strength and took its rightful place in the world.

I don't think it is too much of an exaggeration to say that now there is a new wind of change blowing through Africa in football, and indeed in sport in general.

You are developing great players and great national teams whose potential is enormous. We hope that this programme of workshops can play some small part in that development process.

On behalf of The Football Association, I hope that we can work together fruitfully with CAF and provide the kind of mutual assistance and friendship that should exist within the great family of football.

Africa is close to the heart of The Football Association and we look forward to seeing your associations in South Africa at our first event in the spring.

Finally, Mr President, may I close by presenting to you the signed agreement that we made on behalf of CAF and of The Football Association to work together.