Monday, 26 January 2004.
FA Chairman Geoff Thompson was a guest of the Confederation of African Football at their General Assembly in Tunis which saw Issa Hayatou extend his reign as CAF President for a further 4 years with an emphatic 46-6 victory over challenger Ismail Bhamjee.
The elections also saw Tunisian Slim Chiboub replace fellow countryman Slim Aloulou as CAF’s 4th representative on the FIFA Executive Committee and for the 1st time in the confederation’s 46 year history, 5 new members elected to the CAF Executive.
The General Assembly, which comes ahead of the 24th edition of the African Nations Cup, brings together representatives of each of Africa’s 52 member associations, associate member Réunion and newly elected associated member Zanzibar and, for the second consecutive time, The FA as special guests.
The invitation comes as a result of the increasingly close relationship that England enjoys with CAF through its assistance programme. As The FA's relations with its partners under the UEFA-CAF Meridian Project – Botswana, Malawi and Lesotho – enters it 7th year, 2004 will also see the delivery of 2 pan-continental workshops in refereeing (Kenya) and marketing (Cameroon).
‘As far as I am concerned, ‘ said Thompson, ‘it’s a great honour to be invited to this CAF event. In order to enjoy a fruitful partnership, it is important to understand, or at least have a first-hand and informed appreciation of Africa’s issues so that the relatively modest contribution we are able to make to football in this huge continent is targeted, appropriate and of value to its development’.
The FA's International Development Programme is now active in every continent, assisting confederations and national associations with the development of their technical and administrative structures. For further information, please click here.