The new Confederation of African Football (CAF) strategy aimed to raise the standards of women’s football in Africa. But its proposed plans raised more questions than it delivered answers.
CAF’s #ItsTimeItsNow campaign was heralded as “the dawn of a new era” that would focus on five focus areas over the next three years. These include development, competitions, marketing, leadership and social impact.
This indeed is a noble initiative for the players and the game. In a continent that’s put them in the periphery, CAF hopes this new venture will turn fortunes around.
However, the proposed actions lack specificity and the projected outcomes haven’t been clearly defined.
Absence of Deadlines
While CAF named their five targets, they failed to identify clear timelines for their accomplishments. So how will the confederation measure any progress? How will it take stock without having condensed its schedule into tangible time limits?
A case in point; The Royal Moroccan Football Federation (FRMF) at the beginning of August, released its own four-year plan to grow the sport in Morocco. Amongst its aims, is the creation of a two-tier professional championship by next season.
The FRMF will fund the top league $130,000 while the second tier will receive $86,000.
A specific time frame has been allocated within the wider four-year context. FRMF will be now be able to gauge progress of its mandate as it marches towards its 2024 deadline.
Lack of Accountability
At the moment, the sole responsibility to carry out the CAFs campaign solely rests with the Ahmad-led confederation.
This is because MA’s haven’t been assigned any targets to actualise. Therefore, it is a matter of if they so wish to shoulder the plan.
Until very recently, quite a number of federations have been hesitant to get involved in the sport.
If the Malagasy administrator Ahmad is keen on delivering this ambition, he would put the MA’s to task from the outset. Then probably rope in consequences of not attaining the requirements.
Unlike CAF, the FRMF plans to set up regional leagues for its youth category. Each league is entitled to a little more than $10,000 on the condition they respect the agreement.
Embed from Getty ImagesNo Substantial Data
The strategy fails badly at backing up any of its pillars with statistics.
However, the FRMF clearly identified areas of growth areas it intends to focus on. The Moroccan federation has specified the figures they are targeting in terms of player participation.
They aim to increase their number of players to 90,000 by 2024 and equip another 10,000 with technical skills at the coaching level.
Specific data is needed to track continuous or emerging patterns. Important factors include numbers of existing teams, size of competitions, financial muscle of federations, tournaments and many more.
To Wrap Up
The CAF need to from the FRMF on how to draw a workable strategy. Maybe then they will reconsider revising the #ItsTimeItsNow initiative and formulate a more effective plan.
