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CAF hosts a successful Club Licensing roundtable with FIFA & other Confederations!

CAF yesterday on Tuesday, June 8, hosted a successful a round-table discussion on Club Licensing attended by CAF Member Associations, four Confederations and FIFA.

The round table was a part of a three-day Club Licensing and Stadia online workshop organized by CAF with its member associations, in the presence of the General Secretary, National Technical Director and the Club Licensing Manager of each federation.

The one-hour roundtable was joined by experts from FIFA and the other Confederations, namely AFC, CONCACAF, OFC and UEFA.

CAF second Vice-President and Chairman of the Club Licensing Committee, Ahmed Yahya praised the initiative of the workshop:

“To improve the standard of African football, we need to work hard in delivering a new standard in the organisation of football at club and national level. We have to strengthen the club system and have strong leaves. Secondly, we have to fix infrastructure as a priority and create professionalism for Africa. Club licensing is the cornerstone of changing things around,” he said.

CAF Secretary General, Veron Mosengo-Omba added: “CAF administration is ready to assist its Member Associations and the clubs not only to implement Club Licensing but also to contribute towards the vision of making African football better. Our administration is at your disposal as member associations 24 hours to assist you. We hope that the outcome from the interaction with members and all stakeholders will bring the changes and improvements we need.

The roundtable discussed Club licensing around the globe, highlighting evolution and progress of the club licensing system in the confederations’ landscape. It identified the greatest barriers at the beginning of the implementation stage, and the club licensing criteria that bring the most challenges for clubs to comply with.

The roundtable highlighted the role and importance of the Club Licensing Manager for the success of the system. In Africa, for example, it is common that certain football stakeholders tend to see club licensing only as an Infrastructure compliance matter, while the system has great benefits as a broader tool for football professionalization. There was also an explanation to the procedure and objectives of Club Licensing spot checks and audits.

Participants shared ideas on types of Club Licensing online platforms available in their respective Confederations, and the status of implementation and enforcement of the Online platform at confederation and National Associations level, including ways to approach the launching phase of a new online platform, and the first main steps to take.

There was an exchange of thoughts on the implementation of Club Licensing in Men’s and Women’s Competitions, both on continental and domestic competitions’ level in the different Confederations. CAF explained their new approach, with mandatory minimum requirements established in the confederation regulations for implementation at minimum in domestic top tier Men’s´ competition, discussing how it differs from the current framework in other confederations, while highlighting the recommendations for CAF Member Associations on implementing a club licensing process at domestic level.

The three-day Club Licensing and Stadia online workshop lasts from 8 – 10 June 2021 and tackles topics including deadline for submitting the club licensing decisions for CAF Interclub competitions, men Interclub and women’s Champions League criteria and requirements, CAF Club Licensing regulations and spot checks, updates on Club Licensing online platform, and CAF stadium inspections and regulations.

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