FIFA President Gianni Infantino and Senegalese Football Association (FSF) President Augustin Senghor have met at the FIFA office in Paris, France, with the positive impact of FIFA Forward funding on the West African nation’s football landscape at the heart of discussions. Established in 2016, the FIFA Forward Development Programme supports all of FIFA’s 211 Member Associations in realising their football development projects, and the FSF have collaborated closely with the initiative to remould football in the country.

“It was a real pleasure to welcome my friend and President of the Senegalese Football Association, Augustin Senghor, to our FIFA Office in Paris today,” said Mr Infantino. “We spoke about the impact of FIFA Football for Schools on children in his football-loving nation and how we can continue to make the best use of FIFA Forward funds to continue football development efforts, including financial governance capacity, to help with a FIFA Financial Governance Workshop which was organised last December in Saly. “Leading the FSF, President Senghor has achieved so much, yet his determination to grow football and his passion for the game remain as strong as ever. I wish him and the FSF the very best as they continue to play a central role in ensuring Senegal remains a standard bearer for African football.” The FIFA President was among the distinguished guests who attended the ceremony to mark the opening of the Stade de Senegal in Diamniadio in February 2022 and Mr Senghor and the FSF have ensured the pace of progress has not slowed since. FIFA Forward funding and national government support is being used to give the country’s iconic Demba Diop Stadium in the capital, Dakar, a major facelift with the first phase close to completion. A project to install a number of artificial pitches across Senegal is also almost finished, and with FIFA Forward 3.0 providing up to USD 8 million to each member association through to the end of 2026, the FSF is drawing up plans to build a new headquarters that will bring its administrative and technical structures under one roof.

“Development is always the priority within the FIFA Forward Programme as it helps to give our country more technical and administrative infrastructure. It’s thanks to FIFA that, working with the Senegalese state, we have been able to improve across many areas which has given us results across every sector and for everyone, and we can continue in the same vein today,” said Mr Senghor. “That shows the importance FIFA has in the development of world football, but particularly in Africa. We are a developing continent – our federations need the monetary support from the FIFA Forward Programme as well as the technical and administrative support across the different projects.”

While FIFA Forward has fuelled the infrastructure growth of Senegalese football, including training 300 stewards to international standards to ensure greater security at matches, FIFA has also supplied its expert know-how to increase coaching capacity and standards. A number of coaching programmes run by FIFA’s Technical Department as part of the Technical Development Scheme (TDS), which is headed by FIFA’S Chief of Global Football Development Arsène Wenger, were rolled out in Senegal during 2022.

The TDS aims to give every youngster the opportunity to fulfil their dream of becoming a professional footballer regardless of their geography or financial situation and the goal of establishing 75 FIFA-accredited academies around the world by 2027 is fundamental to the project. Coaches and coaching methods are also crucial to its success, and the programmes in Senegal focussed on creating uniformity of standards and methodology throughout the country’s coaching network. Mr Senghor believes the initiative would also benefit neighbouring member associations. “Our motto has always been We play football everywhere and all the time in Senegal even in the most remote areas of the country. In order to make that happen, we need to train coaches, as FIFA has helped us to do. That’s the critical point,” said the FSF President. “These trainers, who have themselves been trained by FIFA, are criss-crossing Senegal to teach managerial skills, but also training, to all the basic technical coaches. And that’s the key to the success of Senegalese football at the moment, because across the 14 national leagues – from the capital to the most remote area, Kedougou – we have, of course, worked hard to pass on this knowledge from FIFA at the grassroots.” He added: “I would say that this FIFA technical development programme is bringing tangible results in Senegal, and I have no doubt the same applies in other countries too. And I urge all African nations to work with FIFA in this context.”