CAF President Dr Patrice Motsepe briefs media following EXCO meeting

I start by expressing my deep gratitude to the media. My apologies that we started a bit later than what we thought. There were a lot of very important matters, some that came in very early this morning, and we had a very good meeting. Just before I indicate what the process is going to be, I want to give a special welcome to our brother, the General Secretary of FIFA, for joining us and also sharing with us some words of advice and guidance. Because this partnership between CAF and FIFA is very, very important. And regards to Gianni and to everybody in FIFA and to all of the other confederations that you are responsible for. The head of media in CAF is going to read a statement to you that is being printed as we speak, so that you can look at it. And I'll explain to you why we thought we should do it in that way. And after he has read it, it'll most probably arrive whilst we are in the meeting because it also takes account of one or two things that has just come out of that meeting. And then I'll make a few remarks and we will deal with questions that you may have. And I think it would be useful at this stage for me to thank the vice presidents for the excellent work that they've been doing. Thank you so much. And also to thank the EXCO members. Thank you so very much for your guidance and more importantly for the spirit of cooperation and unity within the continent. So I'm going to ask Lux to read the media statement and thereafter, as I said, I'll make a few remarks and we will take questions from the floor. Can you read it, Lux? So, this document that Lux is reading, as I said, will be given to you just after he's ready. Okay, proceed.

Thank you so much, Lux. And why we are giving this printed document, which is on the website already, it's on the CAF website and will be circulated to you, is because football is a very emotional sport. And what happened at the final match in Morocco between Senegal and Morocco is legitimately an important issue for us to keep discussing and for us as well to answer questions in that regard. But what we want to overemphasize is that matter is before CAS, which is the highest decision-making body for football in the world. We will respect and implement whatever decision is taken by CAS. But CAF has got 54 nations, 54 member associations on the continent, and we will continue to engage on this issue. As I said, whatever questions you may have relating to the final match, but we now have to put that aside because there's nothing more we can say that is not contained in what I have said previously and what Lux has said and in this document that we are issuing to you and which is on the website, because we have to continue to do the work of developing and growing African football. We've got lots of competitions that are currently underway: the CAF Confederations Cup, the CAF Champions League, the Women's AFCON is coming up, and very, very important, the FIFA World Cup that will be taking place in America, in the US and in Mexico and Canada. And we have to give support to every single one of the African nations that will be going to the World Cup. Just two quick issues that are very important. I am the President of CAF and as President of CAF I have a duty that emanates from the CAF and FIFA statutes and regulations. I also have a duty relating to governance, to ethics and fair play. But I'm also a football fan and a football supporter and it's very important that the challenges that have been in African football about the impartiality of referees, about the independence of referees, it's something that has been there for many years. And we were very proud when we got recognition and praise all over the world for the way that the referees and the match commissioners conducted themselves in the AFCON in Cote d'Ivoire. And there's a lot of work that we've been doing to make sure that the training that's taking place with the referees, and partly why we are so grateful is Matias is here, the partnership that we have had with them to train African referees, because African referees are as good as the best in the world. But we have to keep training them and not just training them, we have to pay them well. We've got to encourage, in Cote d'Ivoire, the process of professionalizing African referees. We made a lot of progress and I'm told that we have to continue because there were certain issues that did not proceed as I had instructed. So we will continue to professionalize our referees and VAR operators. I benefited enormously from the feedback that the chairman of the CAF referees committee came to give the EXCO at the last meeting just after the AFCON in Morocco, and we asked them lots and lots of questions. But let me say something else as well. There are certain decisions that referees make and including our judicial bodies, the disciplinary board and the appeal board at CAF. Now as a football fan, let me give you an example. Mamelodi Sundowns is playing against Young Africans in South Africa and there's what looks like a goal for me. I was watching it on TV that's scored by Janga and I immediately said it is a goal. And of course, it's a goal for Yanga. And it occurs to you in those moments that be careful because we are President of CAF. So, and then they went through VAR and VAR said it's not a goal. What I want to overemphasize is football fans all over the world and in Africa will have their own views about the performances of referees and VAR operators and it is our duty. We have to keep working. We've got to keep improving. We have to win the confidence and the trust of ordinary football players. In the previous statement I issued, I said it's irrelevant. I can stand here and say we've got the best referees, they are independent, they are impartial. But if the ordinary football spectators on the continent and elsewhere think they are not so impartial, it's not good for African football. And we have to keep working. But we have to move away also from the perception that somehow our problems in Africa and our weaknesses in Africa are greater, bigger, more embarrassing, more extreme than the problems that happen in other parts of the world. And side by side with that, we should not use as an excuse the failures that happen at other parts of the world. We have to take responsibility for ourselves and continue the good work. And I'm confident that we will succeed. And you will see one of the things we discussed today is there's a standing agenda item because EXCO has to take more leadership in terms of the CAF statutes but also in terms of making sure that our commitment to ensuring that African referees and match commissioners are as good as the best in the world. Now why I mentioned the Mamelodi Sundowns-Yanga match is also an indication that again, the CAF judicial bodies, the CAF disciplinary board and the CAF appeal board, their independence and their respect for due process is something that all of us will have to, and we are all committed to that. And you know there may be decisions that are taken by the CAF judicial bodies which I personally may not be excited about and in fact which I may not agree with at all as a football spectator. But as President of CAF, I have a duty to make sure that the independence and the integrity and the credibility of our judicial bodies are respected. And that's why the decisions that were taken by the disciplinary board on the matter between Morocco, the match between Morocco and Senegal, as well as the decision that was taken by the appeal board, these are bodies as I said which consist of some of the most respected judges and lawyers in Africa. And we changed from what happened in the past. In the past, the President of CAF would have a huge influence and in fact the perception was he would in essence appoint the judges and the lawyers on the disciplinary board and the appeal board as well as have a disproportionate influence in the identification of referees. We've made it very clear that every single one of the judges and lawyers and members of the appeal board and the disciplinary board were chosen from the names that were submitted to the EXCO by the 54 member associations as well as by the zonal union. So we will defend at all times the independence and the integrity of the process, the procedure of appointing judges of our judicial bodies and also we will at all times respect the decisions that they take, whether I agree or disagree with them is irrelevant. I have to respect and enforce those decisions and the same applies to our referees. The WAFCON will continue as we said previously in Morocco and we will be having the Under-17 as was previously allocated, the dates I think early in April, and those will also take place in Morocco. Let me say two things about Morocco. Often there are bids that we expect, you know, we put out a tender and say, 'Can any country or any member association that wants to host a competition, can you come and give us an offer or put up a bid?' And on some of the most unprofitable and difficult competitions like futsal, like the Women's Champions League, I know because we get feedback you lose money, you don't make money there, it's difficult. And in some of these proposals that we receive for hosting, Morocco is the only offer. And I've emphasized that we have to give each and every one of the zones opportunities to host competitions. But I have to proceed and make sure that the African competitions continue. So if I have only an offer from one country, I've got to proceed and often that single country is Morocco. Sorry, I see they're circulating the press statement from that Lux was reading to deal with that other issue. One other thing I must emphasize is I will be visiting Senegal. And thank you very much, the chairman of the CAF legal committee and my brother from Senegal who's also, did they say from Nigeria? Is my brother, thank you so much, Sango, for being with us and is an EXCO member. And so I'll be visiting Senegal to meet with the football leadership in the next few weeks, to meet with the football leadership in Senegal, to meet with the government. And my message is very simple. We are deeply committed, and I will give the same message when I go to Morocco, which is the same message I give to every one of the 54 countries in Africa which I visit. The message to the football leadership and the message to the people of Senegal and the leadership is to say we are deeply committed to work together, to cooperate and help you develop and grow football in Senegal. And we'll also talk about the importance relating to the support that we will be giving as CAF to Senegal for the FIFA World Cup, because it's very, very important. But also to emphasize our commitment and our love for the people of Senegal and for the football constituencies in Senegal. The steps that Senegal has taken to appeal the decision of the CAF appeals board to CAS is something that we don't only respect but every country has a duty, whether it's Senegal, whether it's Morocco, whether it's Nigeria, whether it's Cameroon or any other country, they have a duty, the football leadership have a duty to at all times advance and protect the interest of football in that country. So we will be giving a message to say we are with you, we support you, and we're all Africans and we love the people of Senegal and have a deep partnership with the football leadership. I will then go to Morocco to give the same message to say that as CAF and as the President of CAF, we are there to work together, support the development and growth of football in Morocco and deep commitment on us as CAF to work together with the leadership of football in Morocco, to work together with the government in Morocco and also to express our deep love for the people of Morocco and our commitment to the development and growth of football in Morocco. I must say it really saddens me when some of the things I saw, and I'll tell you, in some of the matches when Senegal was playing in Morocco, and not the match between Senegal and Morocco, but many previous matches which I visited and Senegal was playing against other countries in Africa, and I kept asking, 'But why are there so many people in the stadium?' I'm excited that there were thousands and thousands of Senegalese and the answer was there's a deep history between the people of Senegal and the people of Morocco and many Senegalese live in Morocco. So we are not going to allow football to divide our people or to create stress and tension. In fact, the opposite is true. Football should be the engine that unites our people. So I am enormously determined, CAF is enormously determined to make sure that those excellent relationships, the historical relationships between the people of Senegal and the people of Morocco continues to grow and the deep relationships continue. And I was very pleased when the President of the Royal Moroccan Football Federation gave me feedback this morning about the discussions and the meetings that took place a few days after the AFCON in Morocco between the political leadership of Morocco and the political leadership of Senegal. And the message there was there were these challenges that relates to football. We have a proud history together and those challenges of football will be sorted out through the proper legitimate structures. But we will continue as the governments to work together and build on the cooperation between the two countries. The WAFCON, as I said, the women's competition which was allocated to Morocco will continue in Morocco on the dates that we issued. Partly what we want to do is to continue to increase the prize money for the women's competition, like we've done with all the other competitions, but also to make sure that it gets a lot of attention to make it even more attractive, more appealing and more globally competitive. There was an important question that arose about the African Football League which is an important question. The African Football League will continue later during the year. I wasn't happy with some of the proposals for the financial participation which we were receiving because we knew that we should receive significantly more. But a lot of the money that initially we were intending to go to African football from the African Football League, we are getting much, much more from the $1 billion tender over the next eight years that we are busy with. But something else as well which is very important. We have significantly improved the attraction, the appeal, the competitiveness of the CAF Confederations Cup. When I became President, I think the prize money for winning the Confederations Cup was 1.5 million. We've made it 4 million. And we've allocated every one of the 130 football clubs on the continent that participates in our competitions, we gave them each $100,000. Initially, I started by giving them 50,000. They used to get nothing. So we did it together within CAF and the Confederations Cup has become significantly more competitive. And the Champions League, from I think the prize money was initially $2.5 million, we've increased that to $6 million. So an enormous amount of progress is taking place but we are not going to conclude an agreement for the African Football League or for any other competition with any partner without us being satisfied that we are getting compensated, we are getting resources, we're getting financing and funds that are what we deserve. So I just want to check whether there were not a few other issues. And I've emphasized and one other very important issue, you can see today I've got our brand new interim, and it's interim because I got a call one evening from Veron who said, 'President, I need to talk to you.' And this was after we had a lot of discussions on many other issues. And he said, 'I want to come to South Africa.' I said, 'What is it?' He said, 'No, no, no, President, I need to talk to you privately.' So we had a meeting and he was saying to me that President Tshisekedi and on behalf of the people of the Democratic Republic of Congo have asked him to come and assist and come and help with football development within the Democratic Republic of Congo. And he says, 'Listen, I'm very strong, but I feel like I want to make a contribution to the development of football in a country that has been so, it's my country, I grew up there, that has been so helpful.' So we are very excited because we had to appoint somebody as the CAF EXCO at short notice. I'm very proud because you know as a leader of an organization part of your duty is succession planning and it starts with you as the President of CAF. I can walk out of here, there's a bus, it knocks me down and I don't see the sun anymore. There should be people immediately that can take over the responsibilities I had as President of CAF and continue the good work because as I've always said, no organization in the world succeeds because of one individual. Whatever I have achieved over the last few years has not been because of me. It has been because of the vice presidents and the EXCO and the member associations and some excellent people in the secretariat that I've had the privilege to work with. So we are enormously grateful to Veron for his contributions and the work he did for the development and growth of African football. We will at some stage give the proper recognition, have an occasion where we will express our gratitude to Veron and to his family. But I'm very proud. You know what I like about Samson is you know you've got a president who speaks I don't know seven or eight languages but my French is, I don't know why they gave me a French name. I know why they gave me, they named me after Patrice Lumumba but anyway. But Samson is fully bilingual because it's important for me and CAF that the General Secretary, particularly when you've got a President whose French or Portuguese is almost non-existent, that you've got a Secretary General that is fully bilingual. Samson loves African football. My relatives in Nigeria and on other parts of the African continent should feel very proud that we've got one of our very own from the continent. And the vice presidents will lead the process and will report to me on the identification of a permanent General Secretary. And I've told Samson whether he likes it or not, I'm going to put pressure on him also to apply for the position to be permanent. I did promise him I'll give him a little bit more money because he says, 'President, I've got lots of expenses.' And of course we want to employ some of the smartest and the brightest in the secretariat and part of employing some of the smartest and the brightest is to look after them and pay them competitive salaries. I'm confident that Samson will do a good job. The vice presidents will start the process of working with a world-class recruitment agency and people can apply from the continent, from all over the continent including those who are part of the diaspora. And the vice president will keep me informed but there'll be a short list of five. And we will invite that short list of five because we're doing it differently from how it was done in the past. In the past the President came and said, 'There's my General Secretary,' and EXCO said, 'Thank you, let's move on.' We're changing that because EXCO and the 54 member associations that represent 54 countries must take ownership just like they must take ownership of the identification of referees in accordance with the FIFA and CAF statutes through the referees committee. EXCO must also take leadership of the respect and integrity of the decisions of the judicial bodies and it starts with making sure that these bodies have got the very best with a lot of integrity and the best skills and expertise. So Samson has started immediately and he will be leading us going forward. Okay. I think and I'll be visiting Kenya in May. There's a meeting of heads of state and I wasn't initially going to go to Kenya but some of the heads of state are people I know, I've known for many years and they were insisting. So I'll use that visit to Kenya. There are some certain things they've asked me to do whilst I'm there. But I'll use that visit to inspect the stadiums and infrastructure in Kenya for this very important competition that's going to take place next year. And I just want to conclude. We will be giving you more information on what I've said because you've asked a lot of important questions. We are making huge progress with FIFA and with the other confederations to make sure that the global football calendar, because part of the problem of the African Football League was some of the professional soccer leagues were saying to me, 'President, our fixtures are congested, if you bring a new competition we don't know where we'll accommodate.' And I said, 'But look at the prize money.' And as I said, we are still involved in discussions. We really want to make sure that the partners we are talking to gives us the money that we deserve. If not, then we'll just not continue with them because our football competitions are world class. But the important thing for us is to make sure that when I go to Kenya, we look at the infrastructure and facilities and we announce this new competition that initially is taking the place of the CHAN, called the African Nations League. Now the African Nations League, in conclusion, there'll be two of them. The one is going to be called African Nations League Continental, which will take the format every year of competitions in the regions or zones with the two winners from each of the regions or zone coming to the country that is hosting them. So you'll have the country, let's say for example Ethiopia, host, there'll be 16 nations from East Africa playing in Ethiopia and the two winners from the other five zones will all come and play the finals in Ethiopia. But that'll happen every second year. But as I said, we will have the best players. All the players who are in Europe, in North America and in China will play every year in an African competition. So that's what's called African Nations League Continental. Now this is important. The African Nations League Pan-African, as I told you earlier, will be identical to the current AFCON. So you will have every year a world-class competition on the African continent with the best players from the continent who play all over the world playing in Africa. In the past we only had, they only came once every two years. So now they're going to come every year and every two years we will have what's called the African Nations League Pan-African which is a replica of 24 nations which we currently have and every four years we will have what you currently call the AFCON and the difference there is that the AFCON will have 28 nations rather than the current 24. So the commitment we've made of having world-class football on the African continent with the best African

Players from every year from all over the world will proceed. Okay, I think there may be other issues. Remember what I said. You've got the document now that was circulated that talks about the final match in Morocco between Senegal and Morocco. We are not going to say anything more than what we've concluded and what we've said there. And partly why we've put it into writing is because we really want you to take account that we've got 54 nations. We've got football competitions and we don't want to be focusing all the time on issues relating to what happened between Morocco and Senegal, particularly because legally we may not comment, I may not comment anyway until the judgment of CAS has been issued. Okay. Have I forgotten anything? Okay, so I'm told this press conference is going to be short and sweet. Sweet in the sense that you will ask all the questions that you want to ask and we will respond and deal with all of them. Lux, can we... So we'll take the questions as you present them.

Yeah, you can speak in Arabic. Just a minute. I just want to make sure they can translate. And you can speak in Swahili and Wolof, Sango. It's Wolof as well. You can speak in Wolof and Portuguese as well. Okay. Is it working now? Just say thank you. Shukran. Shukran. Shukran.

Yeah, very good question. We're very clear we have to follow the CAF and FIFA statutes and regulations and we've given Senegal the money, the 10 million CFA. We've given them the money and we've given them the trophy and of course Morocco is appealing. We are very clear in our position as far as CAF is concerned, whatever decision is taken by CAS we will respect that and the advice that we've been given is that we may not express any opinions on whose case is right or whose case is not right. And as I said, the independence of the judicial bodies, I must say I was a bit surprised because the media said the CAF president supports a decision. I respect a decision. Whether I agree or disagree, whether I like it or not, it's irrelevant. I respect it and I've got to implement it. I told you the Sundowns young... I thought that, you know, as a football fan, I thought that that should have been a younger goal, a young African goal, but the respect for the integrity and impartialities of referees is crucial and that's non-negotiable. And the same applies, the respect for the independence of the judicial bodies is something that we respect again. Whether we like the decision, whether I like the decision, whether I agree or disagree, my personal opinion is irrelevant. My duty is to implement it and respect that because that is how institutions and bodies all over the world are run. The right thing. Okay, any other question?

Yeah, you can ask in Arabic. Yeah. You speak English or... Oh, you speak English. Don't try and speak English if you prefer Arabic. Arabic is as beautiful as whatever language you want to speak.

Sir, do I think Morocco is what?

You see, I'm listening to my translator here says, 'Do I think Morocco has a favor?'

Do we do what?

Okay. Has CAF got a favor to Morocco and now we have to pay back that favor. Okay. Is that a question? That is a question. Okay.

Yes. Is that the question whether Morocco has a favor to CAF and it also means whether CAF favors Morocco. Is that correct? Oh, okay. That's it. Now you see if you look at what I said in the video, I can stand here and say we treat everybody fairly and equally. And that's a duty we have. And we've got to display that in everything we do. So that we don't say one thing and our behavior and conduct reflects something else. It's not good for African football that any country, whether it's Nigeria, whether it's Uganda or Ethiopia, so we are very, very alive to the perceptions of ordinary football people but also to the perceptions of EXCO members and the CAF member associations. And I must say I benefit enormously from private discussions. And you know they always say there must not only be justice but justice must be seen to be done. So we've got an enormous obligation to football on the continent, to the members, to make sure that at all times in their views, and if they think that we are not living up to the very high standards, you know, they should let us know and we have to live up to those. But I can assure you in the statement you have, I'm very clear under no circumstances will any country, any member association be treated preferentially, more favorable or more advantageous than any other country. It'll never happen.

No, no, no man. Go to, let's go to Nigeria first.

No, no, no, no. You go, you go and then after him. It's okay.

Sorry, you speak Arabic? Yeah. Okay. They're not translating. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. Did you hear that, Matias? Did you hear your Arabic? They say that CAF tells you what the decisions of FIFA should be. I'm just joking. No, it's... we have to keep working and gaining the confidence of our people over and over. Now, let me tell you something else. You know, I was supposed to be president of CAF for one term and part of my duty is to make sure that the people who take over from me, that the legacy we create reflects that our primary duty and commitment is to Africa. I mean, Matias knows he's my brother. Many times he complains and says, 'Yeah, but you know, remember I'm the general secretary of six continents and you always want me to do only what Africa says.' And but that's also the deep commitment. We're all worried, you know, we're only as good as our legacy and we don't write our legacy. It's ordinary people and our various stakeholders. And we have to make sure that when they write that legacy, they must have found that we really tried in good faith and genuinely to do what's in the best interest of African football. Are there instances where we may not have succeeded as much as we would have wanted to? There will always be those instances. But we are enormously proud that we have made significant progress. The numbers speak for themselves. The track record over the last five years and as I said those who come after me will continue with the good work. But we are never going to allow that part of our legacy is that FIFA or any other entity dictated to us. That will never happen. Or that we treated any other country more favorably than any other one. It's never going to happen. Or that we allowed our judges and our judicial bodies to take decisions that they couldn't defend legally, whether people agree with those or not. But those decisions must be arrived at with the greatest amount of good faith and integrity. Or that our referees and match commissioners take decisions which don't reflect what happens on the field of play. It's never going to happen. We've worked too hard and it's part of not just our duty but our legacy to those who come after us.

I'm sad to hear that. And I mean I knew him, what an exceptional human being. And I'm not just sad but I'm also a bit embarrassed that it wasn't brought to my attention. It's somebody that I respected and we continue... so my condolences to him and his family.