African football leaders meet in Johannesburg

FIFA president Gianni Infantino will meet more than 50 presidents of African football associations in an unprecedented summit in Johannesburg on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Each of the continent’s 54-member countries has been invited to a day-long ‘executive summit’ with Infantino, called to discuss general issues in the game and explain FIFA’s plans to expand the World Cup and changes to its development structures.

The association presidents will be divided into two groups with some 25 meeting with Infantino and other FIFA officials on Tuesday and then the rest repeating the exercise the next day.

It is the first time such a summit has been held at which FIFA deals directly with all the leaders of African football although the Infantino did meet some 20 African football association presidents in Nigeria last July.

Usually the only time all association presidents gather together is for annual FIFA and CAF Congresses.

This week’s meetings in Johannesburg, which are being held behind closed doors, will be followed by a trip by Infantino to Harare on Thursday to join in birthday celebrations for the Zimbabwe Football Association and COSAFA president Philip Chiyangwa.

Chiyangwa has invited a wide array of African football administrators to travel from Johannesburg to Harare.