Fifa Presidential Hopeful Hammam Plans Massive Cash Boost For Africa

Hammam is the favourites among African FA booses ahead of Blatter

Mohamed Bin Hammam has vowed to massively boost the coffers of African football federations to develop the game locally if he is voted as the Fifa president next month.

The president of the Asian Football Confederation will double the annual grant to football countries to which means each African country will get US$500,000 yearly.

The 61-year-old, who is tipped to sweep the African votes at the Fifa presidential election, will also massively increase funding to develop football infrastructure to poor countries.

The Qatari has spent the past two weeks in Africa, speaking with federation leaders ahead of the election in Zurich on 1 June.

Hammam was in Equatorial Guinea, Chad, Central African Republic, Rwanda, Gabon and Cameroon to complete his tour of Africa.

This came after he met leaders of the West Africa Football Union in Gambia with the 14 federation presidents overwhelmingly pledging their support for his bid after a private meeting.

Hammam insists he will boost African federation with huge financial packages as well as other programmes to help improve football especially in developing countries.

“I will increase financial aid, I will increase infrastructure for poor countries in Africa,” Hammam said at the end of his tour of Africa.

“Currently at Fifa, we give $250,000 per annum to each federation. I’ll double that to $500,000,” he said, adding that he would increase the $400,000 Goal Project to $1 million for each project.

“I think that’s the minimum I’d be able to do for Africa, but there are many programs for technical assistance, such as training of referees, coaches and administrators,” he said.

Despite bringing the World Cup to Africa, incumbent Sepp Blatter seems to be losing his grip over the continent because of Hammam’s strong links with Africa for over 15 years.

Hammam has been tipped to sweep the African votes after a recent poll by continental football website Afrikansoccer.com revealed that over 70% of African FA bosses will votes for the Qatari ahead of Blatter.

The president of the Asian Football Confederation funded Blatter campaign when he swept to the Fifa seat in 1998 with majority of his votes coming from Africa thanks to the Qatari’s connections in African.

Hammam has continuously courted African FA bosses with his personal initiatives to help the game in their countries which seems to be the reason for the swift shift.