A groundbreaking ceremony for the renovation and rehabilitation of the National Technical Centre of the Ivorian football Federation (FIF) in Bingerville, known as the training and operation centre for all Ivorian national teams, including the winning team of 2023 AFCON, The Elephants was held Cote d’Ivoire
The event took place in Bingerville with the presence of the Prime Minister and Minister of Sports Mr Robert Beugré Mambé, FIF President Mr Yacine Idriss Diallo, CAF SG Veron Mosengo-Omba and FIFA Deputy Chief Member Associations Director, and Regional Director for Africa Gelson Fernandes.
Teams will benefit a brand new technical centre, which will become a state of the art facility with new buildings, a medical centre, a gym of 400 square meters, a storage building, one building dedicated to hosting teams with 30 rooms, another one will be a food court area, and one with meeting rooms and training rooms.
The National Technical Centre project also include the renovation and modernisation the current swimming area for teams. In total, the project includes the construction of 6 buildings and the renovation of an existing one for a total investment of USD 4 341 743 (2.6 billion CFA) funded exclusively by the FIFA Forward program.
“We are celebrating an historic moment. The laying of the first brick of the renovated national centre of the Ivorian Football Federation. This symbolic act marks the beginning of an ambitious project bringing dynamism and guaranteeing a future for football in Cote d Ivoire” Gianni Infantino, FIFA President
“Once fully renovated, this centre will not only be a national football centre, it will become a real symbol of hope and opportunity, a springboard for young players, coaches and football enthusiasts, which will fly the flag for Cote d Ivoire and the whole of Africa during international competitions” Gianni Infantino, FIFA President“
On behalf of FIFA, I would like to express our pride in supporting this project demonstrating our ongoing commitment to support the construction of the modern infrastructure required to professionalise football and to bring trough a new generation talented players” Gianni Infantino, FIFA President
“This centre initially created by my predecessor, Jacques Anouma. At the time, there were ambitions to make it a high-level national centre. Unfortunately, after its construction, it remained somewhat stagnant. When we came in, we ensured it was going to be a strong project, to truly offer full capacities for young people. It is a centre dedicated to the training of both girls and boys. For us, it is an essential tool for the development of elite youth football.” Yacine Idriss Diallo, FIF President
Part of the official and guests invited for the ceremony : More than 25 President of African Federations are also attending the ceremony, a strong gesture to highlight the unity of African leaders for football development and to honour Cote d Ivoire amongst them : Alfred Randriamanampisoa (President Madagascar), Samuel Eto’o (President Cameroon), Ibrahim Musa Gusau (President Nigeria), Steven Jarvis Mnuto (President Tanzania), Fouzi Lekjaa (President Morocco), Mustapha Raji Ishola (Président Liberia) etc.
Cote d Ivoire football federation (FIF) President Mr Yacine Idriss DIALLO and his executive committee also invited local authorities, sports personalities etc.
FIFA Forward is the largest and biggest sport development programme in the world.
It was created back in 2016 when President Infantino was elected the idea is very simple and clear, to redistribute FIFA’s revenues equally the 211 MAs. The core idea is three-fold: Increase the investment into football development worldwide; Achieve more impact with specific and tailor-made projects; and make sure to have more oversight to ensure that the investment in football develop is transparent, carefully managed and effective. For Africa it’s of course exactly the same from Algeria to Zimbabwe. The five main areas where funds are used are : Infrastructure/ Capacity building/ competition/ National teams & subventions and there are other specific projects depending on each Federations’ needs. In line with its strategy to make football truly global.
By the end of 2026 FIFA will have invested a record-breaking figure of USD 5 billion in football.
