00:03FIFA president Gianni Infantino said the FIFA Africa office would have a global impact on football
00:10during the ceremony to mark its official opening in the capital of Morocco, Rabat, in 2025.
00:19The FIFA Africa office joins similar FIFA hubs in Paris, Miami and Jakarta
00:25that underpin FIFA's aim of building stronger local links to its 211 member associations around the world
00:33with the goal of facilitating football's growth globally.
00:42Today is a day that unites us and brings us together.
00:46Here in Rabat, in the Mohammed VI football complex.
00:52It's an incredible and beautiful complex, and I want to start by thanking Morocco,
00:59thanking His Majesty King Mohammed VI and, of course, the Federation,
01:07led by my brother Fouzi Lekjar, here in Morocco, to develop football and this unique facility.
01:15This place is a lot more than just a sporting centre, a lot more than an academy.
01:24It is the nerve centre of Moroccan and African football,
01:31and, as of today, a centre of world football.
01:37It is witness to a country that is looking into the future,
01:42to a continent that is looking into the future,
01:47and to the work that all of us do here for this incredible sport.
01:59It's a special day for FIFA, Africa is FIFA, the rest of the world is FIFA.
02:10And they couldn't have found a better place for the FIFA headquarters to be here in a very special country
02:19for all of us.
02:21Let me start by expressing my deep personal gratitude,
02:26and I know I speak on behalf of the 54 African nations,
02:31to express our gratitude to His Majesty King Mohammed VI,
02:35to make our assisting,
02:38and a very special recognition and gratitude to the Royal Morocco Football Federation,
02:45to our brother Fouzi for the good work that he's doing,
02:52to all the vice presidents, the CAF vice presidents who are here,
02:56and also a special recognition to every single president
03:01from the 54 CAF member associations.
03:06It's a great honour to have you here,
03:09and our brother Matthias,
03:13and you see I then leave our very special brother for dessert.
03:23Gianni is a very special friend of Africa,
03:29a very deep and committed,
03:33and a loyal partner for Africa.
03:36Morocco is becoming an increasingly significant player in international football.
03:42The men's national team broke new ground in 2022 by becoming the first African nation to reach a World Cup
03:49semi-final.
03:50The following year, the women's team reached the knockout stages of the FIFA Women's World Cup for the first time.
03:57Moroccan Administrator Fouzi Lekjar is the first vice president of CAF,
04:02a member of the FIFA Council,
04:04and chair of the committee in charge of the joint candidacy of Morocco, Spain, and Portugal for the organization of
04:11the 2030 World Cup.
04:16Lekjar is a close aide of Morocco's King Mohamed VI, guiding his investment in football,
04:22leading to nation-building projects like the state-of-the-art Academy Mohamed Sista Football in Saleh,
04:28which helped fine-tune the development of the likes of Nayef Agur and Youssef and Nasiri.
04:38FIFA's presence in Rabat is a major signal to where the locus of power resides in African football.
04:48From this place, with this centre that brings together not only the administration, but also the sporting side,
04:59we will be able to organize many events in Morocco, who is also the host of the Under-17 Women's
05:06World Cup for the next five years,
05:09and that too will leave a mark not only on Morocco and Africa, but on the whole world.
05:16We are uniting the world here in Morocco.
05:21And from this moment on, of course, we will also organize the 2030 World Cup,
05:28the second World Cup in Africa, co-hosted by Morocco, Spain, and Portugal.
05:37It will be the centenary World Cup, an incredible celebration in 2030.
05:43And here, everything is in place to make sure this celebration is the most beautiful we've ever seen.
05:50But to do that, of course, we have to work.
05:54We all have to work together, and I know that you are part of our team.
06:03The 2030 World Cup will be Morocco's fourth in a row.
06:07A run that now seems unlikely to pick her tail as the regional powerhouses blossom into a football nation of
06:15global significance.
06:16Let's go.
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