PEOPLE AND PLACES IN THE NEWSChampions League has no allure
because all the star African players are
overseas. There are more than 1,000
players earning a decent professional
living abroad and as many more trying
to find fame and fortune in Europe.
The African Champions League was
reorganised in 1997 to try to replicate its
European counterpart but has bumbled
along over the last two decades without
capturing the continent’s – never mind
the world’s – imagination.
“Competitions in Africa are maybe 30
or 40 or 50 times less successful than
in Europe,” speculates Infantino.
The other blight of the African game
is theft and fraud. FIFA still conveniently
averts its gaze to administrative graft
when it is politically expedient to do so,
but Infantino is looking to tackle the
problem of corrupt match officials.
He says: “One of the major problems
is when referees are not paid, or political
influence, or when the president of the
national association decides who referees
a match. This cannot be.
“So, we have chosen a list of 20
referees and, with the right organisation
and instructors, they will become full
professionals appointed by FIFA,” he
explains. “We will put them under FIFA
protection and they will referee the mostimportant matches in Africa.
“This is performance driven. If they
perform well they stay in the list of 20.
If not, they are out.”
Details of the time-frame for these
changes are not yet clear. CAF will
have to agree to them first and, where
necessary, amend the federation’s
statutes – which can only be done
at the annual congress.
Other decisions can be hurried
through the executive committee, where
a bevy of potential successors to Ahmad
wait in the wings for kingmaker Infantino’s
blessing...and to do his bidding.
Mark GleesonFoul...Senegal’s Sadio
Mane is brought
down in last year’s
Africa Cup of Nations
Final against Algeria