00:04FIFA president Gianni Infantino said the FIFA Africa office would have a global impact on football during the ceremony to
00:12mark its official opening in the capital of Morocco, Rabat, in 2025.
00:19The FIFA Africa office joins similar FIFA hubs in Paris, Miami and Jakarta that underpin FIFA's aim of building stronger
00:29local links to its 211 member associations around the world with the goal of facilitating football's growth globally.
00:42Today is a day that unites us and brings us together, here in Rabat, in the Mohammed VI football complex.
00:52It's an incredible and beautiful complex and I want to start by thanking Morocco, thanking His Majesty King Mohammed VI
01:01and of course the Federation.
01:07Led by my brother Fouzi Lekjar here in Morocco to develop football and this unique facility.
01:15This place is a lot more than just a sporting centre, a lot more than an academy.
01:20It is absolutely unique.
01:22It is the nerve centre of Moroccan and African football and as of today of world football.
01:37It is witness to a country that is looking into the future, to a continent that is looking into the
01:45future and to the work that all of us do here for this incredible sport.
01:59It's a special day for FIFA, Africa is FIFA, the rest of the world is FIFA.
02:10And they couldn't have found a better place for FIFA headquarters to be here in a very special country for
02:20all of us.
02:20Let me start by expressing my deep personal gratitude and I know I speak on behalf of the 54 African
02:30nations to express our gratitude to His Majesty King Mohammed VI.
02:35May God assist him and a very special recognition and gratitude to the Royal Morocco Football Federation, to our brother
02:47Fouzi for the good work that he's doing, to all the vice presidents, the CAF vice presidents who are here.
02:56And 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.
03:14And you see, I then leave our very special brother for dessert.
03:23Gianni is a very special friend of Africa, a very deep and committed and a loyal partner for Africa.
03:37Morocco is becoming an increasingly significant player in international football.
03:41The men's national team broke new ground in 2022 by becoming the first African nation to reach a World Cup
03:49semi-final.
03:50The following year, the women's team reached the knockout stages of the FIFA Women's World Cup for the first time.
03:57Moroccan Administrator Fouzi Lekja is the first vice president of CAF, a member of the FIFA Council and chair of
04:05the committee in charge of the joint candidacy of Morocco, Spain and Portugal for the organization of the 2030 World
04:13Cup.
04:16Fouzi Lekja is a close aide of Morocco's King Mohamed VI, guiding his investment in football, leading to nation building
04:24projects like the state-of-the-art Academy Mohamed Siste Football in Saleh, which helped fine-tune the development of
04:31the likes of Nayef Agur and Yusuf and Nasiri.
04:38FIFA's presence in Rabat is a major signal to where the locus of power resides in African football.
04:48From this place, with this center that brings together not only the administration, but also the sporting side,
04:59we will be able to organize many events in Morocco, who is also the host of the Under-17 Women's
05:06World Cup for the next five years.
05:09And that too will leave a mark not only on Morocco and Africa, but on the whole world.
05:16We are uniting the world here in Morocco.
05:21And from this moment on, of course, we will also organize the 2030 World Cup, the second World Cup in
05:30Africa, co-hosted by Morocco, Spain and Portugal.
05:38It will be the centenary World Cup, an incredible celebration in 2030.
05:43And here, everything is in place to make sure this celebration is the most beautiful we've ever seen.
05:50But to do that, of course, we have to work.
05:54We all have to work together, and I know that you are part of our team.
06:03The 2030 World Cup will be Morocco's fourth in a row.
06:07A run that now seems unlikely to be curtailed as the regional powerhouses blossom into a football nation of global
06:15significance.
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