Gianni Infantio, FIFA president opening the FIFA regional office in Addis Ababa – February 2019
The cabinet meeting on 4th January 2021 approved the Host Country Agreement between the Government of Rwanda and the Federation of International Football Association (FIFA) to host a Regional Development Office in Kigali.
The center will be the fourth on the African continent after Senegal, South Africa, and of recent, Ethiopia.
The FIFA Office in Kigali will also be 11th regional development office to be opened globally since the creation of FIFA Forward programme in 2016.
Globally, other offices were built in India, Malaysia, New Zealand, Panama, Paraguay, Barbados and the United Arab Emirates.
The establishment of FIFA’s regional office in Africa is intended to improve interaction with African Member Associations (MAs) and to offer them support in developing strategies and accomplishing their development goals in close cooperation with FIFA’s administration in Zurich.
Local Sports reporter and analyst, Prudence Nsengumukiza told KTPress that this is a major development move not only for the region football projects but also for Rwanda.
“The office will be vital in speeding up some of the football development projects, such as the establishment of football academies in Rwanda,”Nsengumukiza said.
On the other hand Nsengumukiza who is also a lawyer by training said that the center will act as an arbitration center, where the regional Football Associations (FAs) will be able to direct their queries without necessarily submitting to FIFA Headquarters in Zurich, German.
Through the Forward programme, FIFA plans to spend at least $3million in establishing regional development offices in other regions globally.
