Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa has been named as the venue for the next FIFA Congress – the fourth time it will be held on the African continent in 70 years.
FIFA president Gianni Infantino made the announcement on the eve of the kick-off of the Women’s World Cup in France and just after the conclusion of FIFA’s 69th congress in Paris, where he was re-elected as president, unopposed.
The event will take place in May 2020 at the headquarters of the African Union.
It is the same hall where the Confederation of African Football held its Congress in 2017 when Issa Hayatou was toppled from power by Madagascar’s Ahmad.
Marrakesh in Morocco was the first African city to host a Congress in 2005 as FIFA celebrated 101 years of existence and marked the acceptance of the Comoros Islands as FIFA members.
Johannesburg hosted the 60th FIFA Congress on the eve of the kick-off of the 2010 World Cup and Mauritius was the venue in 2013, where Lydia Nsekera of Burundi was voted onto the FIFA Executive Committee and, in the process, became the first woman to achieve the distinction.
The first FIFA Congress was held in Paris in 1904, with just five member associations attending, and returned to the French capital this weekend with a full house of 211 members present.
The Congress meets every year, where statutes can be amended; where officer bearers are elected and where members can be accepted or expelled. –BBC
