Patrice Motsepe13:39
Brilliant question. Brilliant question. I think part of how you do better or how you move in the right direction of success is to recognize the weaknesses and things you can deal with differently and better. Let me tell you, we gave the AFCON to Morocco and when there were matters concerning the hosting of the AFCON, I received many other proposals from other countries who said bring the WFCON to us. Bring the WFCON to us and we have to behave in a manner that is ethical, that is principled. It would have been incorrect to take it away from Morocco because when we had opened the tender and said come, anybody wants to host because I'm clear in my mind I want the competitions, I want every zone and as many countries as possible to host these competitions. So when there were these challenges, we had to engage to make sure that we maintain the ethics, we maintain the respect, the mutual respect and I would even say the mutual trust. And could we have done better? Absolutely. But we did the right by not having it. It was supposed to be in February.
Yeah. The same thing, what is your name again? Yanda. Yanda was of course Yanda. The same thing with the CHAN in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda. It was supposed to take place last year in February. They were not ready. I could have taken it away from them, but that would have been the wrong thing to do. And we had to be there to support and work together. They spent so much more money between February and August last year to have this big competition in those three countries and we've benefited immensely. We've learned as well, but it gave us a prelude to what we should do and the challenges we might be confronted with next year in June, July. So, I'm very happy and we are all in CAF, very happy and excited that we've done the right thing. Besides, if we had it in February, we wouldn't have been able to significantly increase the prize money as we have now and get loss of focus. Women's football is crucial and you know, it should not just be, we shouldn't pay lip service to women's football. We should do more than pay lip service and a 900% increase in the money we are allocating to women's football is a substantial expression of confidence and commitment. But thank you for the question.
If I might go to the WhatsApp questions from international journalist. One is from Mauritania, Ahmed Lam from Mauritania. He writes, 'Mr. President, African referees officiated only in 11 out of the 104 matches at the World Cup, raising concerns about the treatment of African referees. How do you respond to this and how can we ensure that more African referees are officiating at top matches?'
Very good question. Obviously, I want as many African referees as possible to be at the World Cup and to officiate as many matches as possible and we will continue the discussions and the engagement with FIFA and with Pier Luigi who I think does very good work and is very committed and passionate. I've had that question asked and raised by many people and I can assure you that those matters have been discussed and I'm confident that there will be significantly more African referees and part of that is to continue to work together between CAF and FIFA to keep training, keep supporting, keep uplifting the standards and qualities of African referees. African referees are as good as the best in the world. My apologies. They are as good as the best in the world and we've got lots of confidence in them and they should be there at the highest level in the world. Of course, if an African nation is in the final, we will not have an African referee there. But I want both. Let's have the African referee. We want to see African referees as many of them at the highest level at FIFA competitions. Next.
Just another question from Nigeria from Timothy from Nigeria. He writes, 'Mr. good afternoon, Mr. President. Congratulations. Did the performance of the African nations at the World Cup reinforce your belief that CAF's current club and national team competitions are adequately preparing players for the world's biggest stage?'
Absolutely. You see, I have to be jealous about the quality and the global competitiveness of our club football competitions and our national team competitions. And that's why we've allocated, I mean, you know, when I became president, CAF was in debt to the amount of $150 million. We owed $150 million. We now have $150 million in our bank account. But be careful, that money is not supposed to sit in our bank accounts. It's supposed to consistently be allocated to the member associations, to football for boys and girls, to training of referees and coaches. So you will see from our financial statements we keep as little money as possible on our balance sheet because the money is not supposed to be in our bank account. It's supposed to be used and spent on the ground. So the performances of the African national teams at the FIFA World Cup reflects the quality of African football. Look, Egypt was winning 2-0 against Argentina. Cabo drew with the champions. And he's from Nigeria. Nigeria has got some of the best players not just in Africa but in the world and I'm confident Nigeria will continue to make us proud as they did in the past. Same Cameroon and same Bafana Bafana and every one of the 54 African national teams.