The promise of support came during a seminar in Johannesburg, attended by dignitaries from 28 member associations from across Africa and chaired by former South African 2010 chief executive and now South African Football Association (SAFA) President Danny Jordaan.

The seminar was aimed in raising awareness on reforms and standards in football governance, addressing the problems faced by African countries and ways of combating them, and optimising the benefit of FIFA's development programmes.

"All the programmes we will discuss at this seminar, we can guarantee them to you until 2022, and this is both powerful and remarkable," said Valcke.

"We will make sure that you can improve and develop, that you can professionalise your leagues, which you can develop grassroots football for everyone who wants to play football in Africa.

"We will help you get better, and we want an African team to soon reach the FIFA World Cup Final."

Jérôme Valcke met with dignitaries from 28 African countries to emphasise FIFA's support towards football in Africa ©FIFA



Following the seminar, Suketu Patel, President of the Council of Southern Africa Football Associations (COSAFA) and a vice-president of the Confederation of African Football, thanked FIFA and urged African countries to strive towards improvement.

"We must be grateful to FIFA," he said.

"Each African member association has received around $6 million (£3.6 million/€4.4 million) in the last decade.

"This raises the question: What have we done with the opportunities that we have been given?

"Did we seize the opportunity to improve structurally, or were we contempt to still do the same as before but more extensively?

"We must show our gratitude to FIFA by doing everything we can to all become, one day, self-sustainable and accountable."

Valcke went on stress FIFA's commitment to developing the sport across the globe.

"To those who doubt or criticise us, I can say that FIFA is doing a lot, and is doing very well," he said.

"We have a stronger organisation, football is strong, and football is strong.

"All the commitments we are going to make for you, in terms of development support, we can guarantee them until 2022.

"To those who say we are not about football, I can say that we, at FIFA, are breathing football every day - we work to develop football all day long.

"I am proud of what we do around the world for the greater good of football."

The seminar saw Presidents, secretary generals and technical directors from African countries including, Angola, Botswana, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Lybia, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

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