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The Confédération Africaine de Football’s (CAF) ongoing efforts of reshaping the face of African football continues to move at an exciting pace, as various divisions of the governing body of African football continue rolling out impactful initiatives across the continent.
The CAF Safety & Security Division, led by Dr Christian Emeruwa conducted a four-day CAF Safety & Security Officer’s Training Workshop between 04 – 07 December in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire which brought together 31 participants from all of CAF’s Zones, with 20 countries represented.
With the increasing rise in popularity and global interest of CAF events in recent years, CAF is increasing its efforts into creating safe and secure events for fans, teams and various stakeholders of the African game.
The four-day workshop saw Dr Emeruwa alongside CAF’s Zakariyha Diabate and Katharina Steinberg of FIFA taking the delegation through CAF’s Safety and Security measures and topics which included challenges of safety in Africa, CAF safety & security regulations, accreditation and access control, ticketing, capacity implications as well as crowd management amongst other topics.
The delegation was also tasked with a practical implementation of the theory at the Alassane Ouattara Stadium, the venue that will play host to the opening and closing ceremonies of the TotalEnergies CAF Africa Cup of Nations, Cote d’Ivoire 2023.
The purpose of the practical was to demonstrate safety and security solutions to various incidents that could possibly occur at a stadium.
Concluding the successful four-day workshop, Dr Emeruwa said the development of safety and security personnel was key in ensuring football on the continent was within a safe environment, and that CAF was encouraged at the increased number of female personnel that are being integrated into CAF’s safety and security division.
“The development of safety and security capacity within the continent of Africa to manage football competitions and tournaments is key in our strategic journey to ensure our football games are organised in a safe and secured condition. Supporting the enlisting of women in the division is another milestone that we intend to continue to encourage in addressing the limited number of women safety and security officers”, said Dr Emeruwa.
Since 2019, CAF has trained over 700 people (professional and amateurs) in sport safety and security.
From the 31 participants that were in attendance, 14 were women and they now join a group of CAF Safety & Security Officers that have been part of the CAF since 2019.
Mr Yacine Idriss Diallo, President of Ivorian Football Federation (FIF) was also in attendance to officially open workshop and welcome the delegation to the host nation.
