CAF president Dr.Patrice Motsepe has commended the Royal Morrocan Football Federation for its recently established headquarters in Rabat.
Dr. Motsepe at the same time lauded Royal Kingdom under the leadership of King Mohammed VI ,for its support and humongous investment in the football game, which has seen the construction of several state-of-the art stadiums, which places the country in pole position to stage major international sports events.
The CAF Supremo, who is in Morocco to witness the AFCON Under 23 tournament, spoke on Friday after holding an executive committee meeting in the new offices in which they unanimously approved scrapping the CAF Confederation Cup 2nd preliminary rounds, which implies that 16 teams that win the first preliminary matches will proceed to the group stage as is the case in the CAF Champions League.
“We would like to congratulate the Fédération Royale Marocaine de Football and our Brother Fouzi Lekjaa for their world class headquarters. We would also like to express our gratitude to His Majesty King Mohammed VI, the Government and people of Morocco.
The excellent headquarters that we visited today and the world class stadiums and football infrastructure in Morocco are good examples of the success and accomplishments that can be achieved through partnerships between our African Governments and our National Football Associations.”said Dr Motsepe
President Motsepe added: “The integrity, independence and credibility of referees, match commissioners and VAR operators is crucial for the respect and growth of African football and we are confident that the newly appointed CAF Referees’ Committee members will contribute towards the growth and global competitiveness of football in Africa.”
The CAF leadership later attended a 3rd place AFCON Under 23 play-off at the Ibn Batouta stadium in Tangier city, which saw Mali book their ticket for next summer’s Olympic games after beating Guinea 4-3 on penalties following a barren draw in regular time.
Host Morocco will square it off against defending champions Egypt in Saturday’s final set for Prince Mouley Abdellah Stadium in Rabat.
Both teams had earlier qualified for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
