BUJUMBURA, March 25 – New FIFA president Gianni Infantino visited Burundi on Thursday, as he made his third stop in his maiden trip to Africa after visiting war torn South Sudan and Ethiopia in the last five days.
He has been holding talks with federation and government chiefs in his tour and in South Sudan officially opened the federation headquarters funded through the FIFA goal project as well as watching the hosts play an AFCON qualifier against Benin.
In Djibouti, which has been one of the least developed football countries in Africa, Infantino promised FIFA would lay down more development projects in a bid to bolster the country’s football wealth.
“I am very much honored to be here in Djibouti. This visit is part of my first tour to several African countries after my election as FIFA president less than a month from now. I came here to meet with the football family lead by my friend president Souleiman who is doing a greatjob for Djiboutian football” Infantino noted.
“Thanks to the commitment and the work of football people here in Djibouti. It makes me feel very confident that this country’s football is going up and today I am here to define concretely and clearly what kind of projects we can bring in to develop football in this country and in the region in general” he added.
He also pointed out; “This country is more for football. Installations of new pitches are always needed, but more importantly this country also needs educational projects, trainings, grassroots programs for boys and girls and the construction of a brand new football academy.
“We will look into all those needs and we will define with president Souleiman on what and how to implement the projects one after the other” FIFA president noted.
Before meeting the federation chiefs led by the FA president Souleiman Hassan Waberi, Infantino met with the prime minister of Djibouti Abdoulkader Kamil Mohamed who explained to him about the government’s commitment to promote football and fight terrorism and radicalization through the beautiful game.