ABIDJAN, October 21, 2023 - It was in the air. A partnership between AIPS Africa and CAF. The idea has now taken shape. During a meeting held in the Bassam room of Abidjan's Sofitel hotel on the sidelines of the 2023 AFCON draw, Veron Mosengo-Omba, General Secretary of CAF, and Abdoulaye Thiam, President of AIPS/Africa, discussed the broad outlines of what should lead to a partnership agreement between the two organizations.

INITIATIVES First, the CAF General Secretary congratulated the President of AIPS Africa for the initiatives taken to promote the development of sports journalism in Africa. However, for greater effectiveness, Mr Mosengo-Omba stressed the need to work together. “We are ready to help you because football does not belong to CAF. That's why President Motsepe has decided to work transparently with everyone. We've even had discussions with the club presidents,” he said. Veron Mosengo-Omba also encouraged Abdoulaye Thiam to do more to extinguish the sources of conflicts within African national associations. According to him, “Africa doesn't need this division.”

AFCON 2023 Regarding AFCON 2023, he noted the need to popularize what Ivory Coast has done to succeed in the final stage. “We have a great audience. CAF is very well run in terms of respect for the rules of transparency. There's no such thing as an organization with zero problems. But this AFCON will be the finest ever organized,” predicted the CAF General Secretary. “This is President Motsepe's first AFCON because in 2021 in Cameroon, he was elected in June for a competition started in January-February. Here, just for the draw, we have over 2,500 journalists.”

COLLABORATION As for AIPS Africa, Abdoulaye Thiam began by thanking the CAF General Secretary for his availability, despite his busy schedule, especially on the eve of an African Cup of Nations draw. Turning to what should be the focus of the partnership, the AIPS Africa president asked CAF to invest in training and capacity-building for African journalists by African experts.

“We work in a profession where we must always question ourselves and keep up to date. We, therefore, ask CAF to support us in organizing training sessions,” Mr Thiam advocated, not without underlining the efforts already made in this direction by AIPS with the popular and successful Young Reporters program. “You mentioned a Young Reporters project, which we have had at AIPS for more than 10 years now. It would be good if we could federate all that,” Thiam called. 

“We would like to see the President of CAF or the Secretary-General taking part in the annual AIPS congresses and talking about African football. This would enhance our profile and generate greater public interest in the meetings organized each year by AIPS,” he added.

ANNUAL NIGHT FOR AFRICAN SPORT Finally, President Thiam called on the CAF to rely more on African sports journalists to serve as content editors for the CAF website to raise the profile of football activities in their respective countries. This would also help preserve this noble profession, which is currently under threat from outside elements. With this in mind, President Abdoulaye Thiam announced his team's intention to organize an annual Night of African Sport in one of the continent's capital cities. The idea is to promote excellence and merit in the practice of the profession.

Having taken part in the meeting, Lux September, following Veron Mosengo-Omba, declared that he had taken good note of the ideas shared. “CAF is going to come back to you to validate what it is capable of doing,” the head of communications stated. The CAF SG was accompanied by members of his staff, notably Lux September and his assistant, Charlotte Pélagie. 

AIPS AFRICA DELEGATION The AIPS Africa delegation, led by Abdoulaye Thiam, included Mr Oumar Baba Traore, President of the National Sport Press Association of Mali and Vice-President of AIPS Africa, and Ms Katty Touré, President of the Ivory Coast National Sport Press Union, and President of the AIPS Africa Women's Commission. Ms. Touré was joined by several members of the Union nationale des journalistes de la presse sportive de la Côte d'Ivoire.