Nigeria has received a fresh dose of motivation from global football governing body, FIFA, regarding infrastructure support, training of referees, youth development and qualification for the next World Cup.
This is a sequel to encouraging words that were uttered by FIFA president, Gianni Infantino while addressing the recent elective assembly of the Confederation of African Football (CAF).
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Sports247 gathered that, although the immediate past president of Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Melvin Amaju Pinnick lost his bid for reelection into the FIFA Council, his country is sure to be among several beneficiaries of various support projects from the global body.
This assurance came directly from Infantino himself, as he declared during his keynote address at the CAF general assembly in Cairo, Egypt that FIFA has stepped up its efforts and increased funding of support projects all across Africa.
Infantino said: “We have been able to increase substantially the FIFA Foward Programme … the solidarity contribution for all member nations. We’ve moved them up from what they used to get some years ago … 250,000 US dollars a year … to over 2 million US dollars a year; which they are all investing in infrastructure development, women football and boys development. We are creating together (with the national bodies) academies all over the continent.
We are developing and making sure that referees in Africa become better and better on top of the world. We are making sure that Africa can have a bigger say on the world scene, not just at the FIFA Council or at the committee level, but also on the field. That will include, for the first time in history, nine or even ten African countries that will be at the next FIFA World Cup in 2026 “
Infantino’s permutation is based on nine automatic qualifiers from Africa that are sure of going to the 2026 Mundial in Canada, USA and Mexico, while a tenth team from the continent could equally make it through a play-off game against the first nation outside the automatic qualification range in South America.
