00:05FIFA president Gianni Infantino said the FIFA Africa office would have a global impact on football
00:11during the ceremony to mark its official opening in the capital of Morocco, Rabat, in 2025.
00:21The FIFA Africa office joins similar FIFA hubs in Paris, Miami and Jakarta
00:27that underpinned FIFA's aim of building stronger local links to its 211 member associations around the world
00:35with the goal of facilitating football's growth globally.
00:43Today is a day that unites us and brings us together.
00:48Here in Rabat, in the Mohammed VI football complex.
00:53It's an incredible and beautiful complex, and I want to start by thanking Morocco,
01:00thanking His Majesty King Mohammed VI and, of course, the federation,
01:08led by my brother Fouzi Lekjar here in Morocco to develop football and this unique facility.
01:16This place is a lot more than just a sporting centre, a lot more than an academy.
01:25It is the nerve centre of Moroccan and African football
01:32and, as of today, of world football.
01:38It is witness to a country that is looking into the future,
01:43to a continent that is looking into the future,
01:48and to the work that all of us do here for this incredible sport.
02:01It's a special day for FIFA, Africa is FIFA, the rest of the world is FIFA.
02:12And they couldn't have found a better place for the FIFA headquarters to be here in a very special country
02:21for all of us.
02:22Let me start by expressing my deep personal gratitude,
02:27and I know I speak on behalf of the 54 African nations,
02:33to express our gratitude to His Majesty King Mohammed VI who may God assist him,
02:39and a very special recognition and gratitude to the Royal Morocco Football Federation,
02:47to our brother Fouzi for the good work that he's doing,
02:54to all the vice-presidents, the CAF vice-presidents who are here,
02:57and also a special recognition to every single president from the 54 CAF member associations.
03:07It's a great honour to have you here and our brother Matthias.
03:15And you see, I then leave our very special brother for dessert.
03:24Gianni is a very special friend of Africa, a very deep and committed and a loyal partner for Africa.
03:38Rocco is becoming an increasingly significant player in international football.
03:43The men's national team broke new ground in 2022 by becoming the first African nation to reach a World Cup
03:50semifinal.
03:51The following year, the women's team reached the knockout stages of the FIFA Women's World Cup for the first time.
03:58Moroccan administrator Fouzi Lecjar is the first vice-president of CAF,
04:03a member of the FIFA Council and chair of the committee in charge of the joint candidacy of Morocco, Spain
04:10and Portugal,
04:11for the organisation of the 2030 World Cup.
04:17Fouzi Lecjar is a close aide of Morocco's King Mohamed VI, guiding his investment in football,
04:23leading to nation-building projects like the state-of-the-art Academy Mohamed Seiste Football in Saleh,
04:30which helped fine-tune the likes of the likes of Nayef Agur and Yusuf and Nasiri.
04:40FIFA's presence in Rabat is a major signal to where the locus of power resides in African football.
04:50From this place, with this centre that brings together not only the administration,
04:57but also the sporting side, we will be able to organise many events in Morocco,
05:04who is also the host of the Under-17 Women's World Cup for the next five years,
05:10and that too will leave a mark not only on Morocco and Africa,
05:16but on the whole world.
05:18We are uniting the world here in Morocco,
05:22and from this moment on, of course, we will also organise the 2030 World Cup,
05:29the second World Cup in Africa, co-hosted by Morocco, Spain and Portugal.
05:39It will be the centenary World Cup, an incredible celebration in 2030.
05:44And here, everything is in place to make sure this celebration is the most beautiful we've ever seen.
05:51But to do that, of course, we have to work.
05:55We all have to work together, and I know that you are part of our team.
06:04The 2030 World Cup will be Morocco's fourth in a row.
06:09A run that now seems unlikely to pick her tail,
06:12as the regional powerhouses blossom into a football nation of global significance.
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