Arsène, you were at the final of Afcon. It was an incredible tournament. We saw some of the so-called smaller nations performing and competing with bigger countries. What was your overall impression and assessment of the tournament?
I would say that there have been remarkable improvements since the last tournament on the pitch, off the pitch, the organisation, the quality of the pitches, the level of organisation on the pitch as well, and the commitment was intense.
Overall, it was a tournament of the small margins between the teams.
I must say, as well, it shows that information travels very quickly, and the phenomenon that we have seen there is that there was little space to play. The compactness of the team was what we had already seen in Doha at the 2022 Fifa World Cup. And, it looks to be a trend in the world, that teams don’t give space away.
Do you think going forward, developing club competition within Africa itself will help drive better players, too?
100 per cent, you know, because most of the time, these countries lose their players because they cannot afford to keep them. And, we need to build stronger clubs. Let’s not forget, it’s 1.4 billion people in Africa, you know.
The potential, it’s a goldmine for football. And, to make stronger clubs, to have stronger competitions is vital, because that was the success of Europe – they have strong clubs and good education and we want that: to develop that as well in Africa – everywhere.
It’s starting, it’s getting better but we want to support that development.
You touched on it there, obviously lots of great work on the pitch but, also, off the pitch too. The Fifa Forward investment has been an important factor there, but what are those next steps needed in the region
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