Okay, thank you so much for those wonderful words. We've got a few exciting days ahead of us, and these are just a few remarks before we start the formal proceedings. There's going to be lots of active discussions, and I'll talk a little bit more about that. But in terms of our culture, just before I specifically recognize our very special guests, we always start our meetings with a prayer. So can I ask all of you to stand up, and we can ask our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, ask God Almighty, the creator of the heavens and the earth, ask Allah, the all merciful and the all powerful, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and of our Muslim brothers and sisters, Prophet Muhammad, to be with us today and every day, for our families and for the continent, and keep Africa and the world united. A moment of silent prayer, please.
Thank you so much. Thank you so very much. And this is a good time to welcome our host, our president. Thank you so much. We had such a wonderful time with you yesterday, and she was saying to me she's wearing blue today because blue is the special color of this proud nation, the people of Cabo Verde. Our brother Mario, where's Mario? Our brother Mario, the football team, the national team, has made the people of Cabo Verde so proud. The people of Africa very proud, and all Africans in the diaspora. Thank you so much. And after I've just made a few remarks, you'll come and address us. And we've been at home and we've been very well received. And our brother Giani, always good to see you. And whenever we have these sort of discussions, we want the family to be together. You've had such a historic, deep commitment to the continent, but also to the developing world and to the world of football in FIFA over many, many years. And part of what we are doing today is to reemphasize the importance of all of us working together. And we'll talk a little bit more about that before we go into the closed session.
And I spoke to our brother Mario. Thank you so much for the wonderful work that you're doing. The CAF vice presidents, we see all the CAF vice presidents. Kurt, and Fousy, and where is Palan? Pan, and Sidat. Thank you so much. The CAF EXCO members, thank you for your leadership, your commitment, and the hard work that you are busy with. And the CAF FIFA Council members, the 54 member association presidents who are here with us today. There's important work that we are going to do. There's some good work we've done, and part of what we're doing today and tomorrow is to build on all of the good work. The minister of sports, he was also wearing a blue suit. Where is he? Oh, the minister of sport. Part of my duty, Mario, is when I visit every country, is to thank our president, Dr. Janira Hoffner Almada, just thank her for supporting you, Mario, supporting football in Cabo Verde. You see, I've been spending too much time with Kurt, I mean with Idris and with Ghana as well. But to thank you for supporting Mario and supporting football in Cabo Verde, the success of football, the proud moment in the FIFA World Cup is because of your support, the minister, the government, and it's also part of the commitment on the continent to working together with all of the heads of states and all of the government.
So those are just the few remarks, and I will talk later because today is also about listening. This is the first time in the history of CAF, I'm told, that we're having a meeting of this nature. But of course, over the last five years I've had several meetings where this is a strategic conference. So I've always used the opportunity over the last few years to meet with all of the member associations, because when we meet in the ordinary general assembly, we cannot really talk. There isn't time to talk about the issues on your mind, the good work we do, but also some of the areas where there's room for improvement and where we should do better. And this is part of what we're going to do today and tomorrow. With those few remarks, thank you so much. The 54 member associations, zonal union presidents, all of our special guests, thank you so much. We'll do a lot of good work today, and we will conclude tomorrow. Merci beaucoup, and I'll come later after this. Can we just please clap hands for everybody who's here today? Let's clap hands.
Thank you. Thank you so much, Mr. President, for your remarks, your welcoming remarks. Ladies and gentlemen, for Cabo Verde, hosting this gathering is a moment of great pride. It is my pleasure now to invite Mr. Mario Sumemed, the president of the Cabo Verde Football Federation, to deliver his remarks. Mr. Mario, please. The stage is yours.
Thank you. Thank you very much. Good morning all. It's very emotional for me to be before my friends, the African football family, here in Cabo Verde. Your Excellency, Madame Acting President, Dr. Janira Hoffner Almada. Your Excellency, President of FIFA, Gianni Infantino. Your Excellency, President of CAF, Mr. Patrice Motsepe. Mr. Minister of Culture and Creative Industries and Sports, the architect Anton Duarte. Mr. Secretary of Tourism, Dr. Pimenta. Your Excellency, Mayor of Sal, Dr. Julia Laps. Your Excellencies, members of the Executive Committee of CAF. Mr. General Secretary of CAF. Distinguished, dear guests and participants, ladies and gentlemen, please allow me firstly to salute, to give salutations of high respect and gratitude to our Excellency, Madame Acting President of the
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This conference raises African football and serves as a witness of the commitment of Cabo Verde with sports. Madame President, thank you very much. I would like to salute as well, with great friendship and esteem, the President of FIFA, Gianni Infantino. Welcome to Cabo Verde. Your presence and that of your delegation is an honor for Cabo Verde. It's proof of friendship and respect for African football, and is a witness of the engagement of FIFA in favor of dialogue and inclusion in football, principles that your leadership identifies. President of CAF, Dr. Patrice Motsepe, my old brother. It's also a great honor for us to have you here, and we congratulate you for this extraordinary initiative by CAF to promote dialogue and reflection on African football. Dialogue with the president is always an intelligent option, and your vision to bring Africa to the center of the debate on the future of world football is another piece of evidence, unequivocal, that your leadership has been crucial for the growth of African football, and we are honored with your presence and your important delegation among us.
Thank you very much, Mr. President. Dear participants, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, it's with great happiness that I welcome you warmly to Cabo Verde. Please feel at home. To receive you here to speak about the greatest sports event in the world, that in 2026 was historic with the participation of 48 national teams and three host countries, is a privilege for us. Especially when we are in the presence of our head of state, of the leaders of world football, of world and African football, and the government of Cabo Verde, which is represented by our minister, the architect Anton Duarte, and the Secretary of State Pimentel, which displays the firm commitment of the government of Cabo Verde for the development of African football and, of course, Cabo Verdean football. So dear members, we hope that this conference may, throughout these days, allow you to share experiences and take home inspiring ideas for our federations and respective countries. Mayor of Sal, our big thank you for hosting us in your island and city, Santa Maria. We know that football alone we can't really do anything. So allow me to highlight our sponsors who have helped us greatly. And if today Cabo Verde has results, we shall share these results with our sponsors. Here we have our sponsor from the bank. We wish you a very pleasant stay. Thank you very much.
Mr. Mario, please stay with me on stage, because I believe that Mr. Motsepe and Mr. Gianni Infantino have something special to give you.
You go in the middle. History being made today. Thank you. Thank you so much, Mr. Gianni. I can't let you get off of the stage. At least not right now, because I believe, we all believe, and we want to hear a few words from you here at the podium.
Okay, pleasure. Well, thank you. Thank you very much, President. Dear President of the Republic of Cabo Verde, the acting President of the Republic of Cabo Verde, I should add. Dear CAF presidents, my dear brother Patrice. Mario, President of the Cabo Verde Football Federation. Last time we met with the minister in the United States for the World Cup, he was not sitting so comfortably on his chair. He was jumping up and down to follow and cheer for his team, who did absolutely fantastic. Dear members of CAF, dear presidents, dear vice presidents of CAF, EXCO members, brothers, sisters, friends. I used to say when I come to Africa that I come home. Today even more, because we are in Santa Maria. Correct. The name of my mother is Maria. So more home than this I cannot be. And I feel the warmth of home when I'm here. I feel the warmth of all of you. I feel the passion. I feel the heartbeat, as we all felt during the last welcome. And I would like to start by congratulating CAF and the great Mario for the performance of Cabo Verde at the World Cup. Big applause.
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Of Cabo Verde, but of everyone, everywhere in the world. At some stage the entire world was cheering for this country that maybe they had not even heard the name of before, and everyone was feeling Cabo Verdean. This is what football is about. It's passion. It's engagement. It's resilience. And that's what makes football. Normally I don't do this, but here I want to do it: a member of the FIFA delegation, Mr. Jason Fernandez. Where is Jon? Where are you, Jon? Another Cabo Verdean, who made Cabo Verde proud even before the World Cup, but now they surpassed everything with this fantastic World Cup. Football.
Dear friends, football belongs to everyone, wherever we go in this world. And the responsibility of FIFA, and yours as well in CAF and your federations, is to create opportunities and find resources so that these opportunities can become a reality. And it's our responsibility to create opportunities and to find the resources for these opportunities to become true. We have seen this at the last World Cup, and I'm proud and happy to be here at home, in Santa Maria, Sal Island, Cabo Verde, to speak about the World Cup, to speak about FIFA and its past and its future, but mainly, of course, to listen and to learn from you. It's important, dear Patrice, to organize these strategic meetings, because as Mario was saying earlier, dialogue is at the basis of everything. We need to understand what the needs are of everyone to be able to address these needs in the right way. And we have seen some of the results at the last World Cup, the most successful World Cup ever by any measurement that you want to take: spectators, sport, financial, everything. And you've seen the success of African football at this World Cup, for the first time with 10 participating nations. Nine out of 10 qualified out of the group stage to the knockout phase. Nine out of 10, 90%. The first World Cup that I had the honor to organize as FIFA president was 2018. In 2018 there were five African representatives. And do you still remember how many qualified for the knockout phase? Zero. Zero, 0%. And now it's 90% in only eight years, in only two World Cups. How is this possible? Well, this is possible thanks to you. Thanks to the work that you are doing every day in your countries, in your continent, around the world, to bring football to the next level.
African talent, dear friends, has shaped and is shaping more and more world football, and we have to provide the opportunities for this talent to shine at the global stage. As FIFA president, I'm proud to have contributed, together with all of you, a little bit in this evolution over the last 10 years in this incredible success story that is valid for men's and women's football. Of course, with the FIFA Forward program we have invested in 10 years 1 billion US dollars in Africa, 500 million only in the last four years, 124 different projects, and many other actions: headquarters, national training centers, all these activities that are important on top of the competitions for football to sustainably grow, the stadiums.
So we have seen just in the recent past some great headquarters being inaugurated. Cameroon, as an example, a beautiful headquarters recently opened. Nigeria will open it soon. In Libya, Cabo Verde as well, the new headquarters. We have seen training centers come out everywhere in Africa, and I could mention many: Uganda, for example, or Mauritania, who was one of the very first, not to speak, of course, of the big countries like Morocco, Egypt, and so on, Algeria, an area that I visited a couple of months ago. So all of this work bears fruit, and stadiums, infrastructure, are crucially important as well. Two years ago, 26 African countries could not play their matches at home. 26, because they did not have a stadium that was in conformity with the standards. Now 40 of them play at home, and our objective, our common objective, is of course to have even more, and all of you being able to play your home matches on your home territory. Because that's what you deserve. That's what your girls, your boys, your children, your populations deserve. And this is of course our commitment. And that's why we will continue to look for the possibilities, for the resources, for the increases that are necessary to boost African football really at the top of world football. Everything is there. The talent is there, the passion is there, the infrastructure is coming, the competitions are coming for men's football and for women's football. In the Central African Republic, the first ever training center for women only has been opened very recently. These are not just symbols. These are examples that the whole of Africa and the whole of the world can and should follow.
Now, of course, when you go through a journey, sometimes there are concerns, in the spirit of what Mario said, the spirit of dialogue, with open arms, with an open heart, with an open mind, because we can always be better and do better. And our commitment is to make sure that your football is going to continue to improve, to continue to grow, to give you more opportunities. 10 countries in the World Cup has been a success for the entire continent. Same for the women's World Cup, with increases in the participants. And we need to continue, of course, together on this path, because it's up to you, the member associations of CAF, who are also member associations of FIFA, to tell us what you want to do, how you want to continue, how we can make you stronger and you better, you in Africa and everyone in the entire world, because we always have to seek, of course, unity and growth in the entire world. And this because, and I repeat, football belongs to everyone, everywhere, everyone, everywhere, and we have to find the opportunities and the resources for this to become a reality.
My dear friends, a child, and a child's opportunity cannot be limited by the place he or she is born. What we can do to change this is to continue to invest in infrastructures, in coaching, in competitions, to make sure that this talent has an opportunity and the chance to shine. And as African football is shaping the world of football, we need to find the right ways for world football to recognize and to make this extraordinary talent shine even more on the global stage. I'm really looking forward to this conference. I'm sure I will learn a lot. I'm sure we will all engage a lot, and I'm sure after this we can go back home with a better understanding of what we should do, of how we should do it, for you, for CAF, for Africa, and for the entire world. Thank you again for having me here. I'm very happy to be here back home, and I'm looking forward to listening and learning from you. Thank you so much.
