FIFA NEWS
President Paulos Andemariam leads Eritrean delegation to FIFA Congress
Three members of the Eritrean National Football Federation (ENFF) led by President Paulos Weldehaimanot Andemariam successfully attended the 76th FIFA Congress on April 30th in Vancouver, Canada.
Andemariam who is also the President of the Council of East and Central Africa Football Associations (CECAFA) was accompanied by the ENFF General Secretary Mulugeta Begretinsae and Head of Finance Yohanns Ghirmal.
At the Assembly the FIFA President Gianni Infantino thanked the 211 FIFA Member Associations (MAs) for their support and progress over the last 10 years.
“I want to tell you first – the 211 (FIFA) Member Associations – that I will be (a) candidate for the election of FIFA President next year,” he said in his concluding remarks to the assembled delegates.
First elected at the Extraordinary Congress in Switzerland in February 2016, Infantino said that FIFA was now a respected, trusted, and truly global organisation which enjoyed a place at the top table thanks to the governance changes that have been implemented.
He highlighted that FIFA wants to make sure that every child in every corner of the world had the chance to play football. Infantino said that it is vital that all 211 MAs enjoy the same standing and that revenues from FIFA’s competitions were reinvested in football development around the world.
“One very simple principle. FIFA has 211 members and all 211 are equal,” he said. “You are all equal to us. We will not [leave] anyone behind. We will invest, and we will generate, and we will contribute to make sure that all of you – all 211 – are brought into the global fabric of football,” he added.
FIFA has also focused on development and organising competitions to support the vision of making football truly global.
In the last 10 years that Infantino has been incharge, FIFA has invested USD 5 billion into football development through the flagship FIFA Forward Programme and investments for the upcoming fourth cycle of FIFA Forward, 2027 to 2031, will increase by 20% to USD 2.7bn. This will provide Member Associations with eight times more than they received for football development before 2016.
