The head of the Burundian Football Association (FFB) has travelled to Paris to meet with FIFA President Gianni Infantino, to identify and discuss opportunities to further increase the support already provided by FIFA Forward for football development in Burundi, and across Africa. On the agenda for the meeting between President Alexandre Muyenge and Gianni Infantino was a wide range of football development topics, including infrastructure support, the growth of the women’s game and how to ensure every talent is given a chance, so that the next generation will all have access to the facilities they need to play the sport.

President Infantino said: “It was a great pleasure to spend time in the company of President Muyenge. Alexandre is committed to football development; he is passionate about the relationship his organisation has with FIFA and is committed to ensuring the opportunities provided by the FIFA Forward programme are used to their full potential. I commend him on his work to date, and look forward to expanding our collaboration over the coming years.” The meeting, which took place at FIFA’s Paris bureau on the afternoon of The Best FIFA Football Awards™ in the same city, also provided President Muyenge with the opportunity to thank the FIFA President for the commitment he has shown to developing football not only in Burundi, but across Africa. Speaking shortly after the meeting, he said: “I’d like to thank FIFA and the FIFA Forward Programme because I know that for many federations, especially African ones, without this funding, it would have been hard to reach our goals.” “Youth is at the heart of everything,” he added. “So, we talked about how to develop and detect the talents of our young Burundian players, so that they can access the whole world. This is the first point. Secondly, we talked about the sports infrastructure because we cannot talk about football development without sports infrastructure.”