FIFA President Gianni Infantino has thanked women’s football representatives from across Africa for giving hope and opportunities to girls around the continent. Mr Infantino was speaking at the FIFA Women’s Football Regional Workshop for Africa which took place in Rabat, Morocco as part of efforts to further advance women’s football in the region.

The gathering brought together representatives from all 54 FIFA Member Associations (MAs) in CAF to collaborate and share knowledge. Each MA was represented by the person who is responsible for women’s football in their country.

Developing women’s football is one of FIFA’s strategic objectives and this was the fifth of six workshops after hosting the MAs of AFC, Concacaf and CONMEBOL in 2024, as well as UEFA at the Home of FIFA in Zurich, Switzerland in September 2025.

Women’s football has made significant strides in Africa with the progress clearly seen at the FIFA Women's World Cup Australia & New Zealand 2023™, where three of the four African representatives – Morocco, Nigeria and South Africa – qualified for the Round of 16, while Zambia made history by claiming their first win at the tournament.

“You are giving hope, you are giving opportunities to so many girls in the continent and all over the world who look at you as role models, as examples, and you have a real impact: giving hope, giving smiles, giving happiness to millions of girls in Africa and all over the world,” the FIFA President told the workshop.

Mr Infantino said it was important for the representatives to tell FIFA of the challenges they faced in their home countries. “We have to learn, as well, from you. You have to explain us what you face, and then we can adapt, as well, the way we can help and assist in the most efficient way, because there is no one solution that fits for every country in Africa or Asia or Europe or in the Americas or Oceania,” he said.

Blandina Khumbo Mdebwe from the Football Association of Malawi underscored the workshop’s role in promoting collaboration and advancing the growth of women’s football in Africa.

“Many of us experience similar challenges, but each country’s context brings its own nuances. These workshops create opportunities to learn from one another, to see how others are implementing FIFA’s Women‘s Development Programmes and to share success stories to overcome obstacles,” she said. “This is one of the most important aspects, just learning from others and how they are fighting the good fight.”

The workshop took place during the FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup Morocco 2025™ which, in a significant milestone for Africa, was the first FIFA women’s tournament to be staged on the continent.

“For the first time, young girls come here to Africa to compete on your pitches, to feel the energy of your fans to experience the passion that runs through this continent,” said FIFA Chief Football Officer Jill Ellis, who stressed that there was a lot more to do.

“Africa is not just participating on the world stage, they are competing at the highest level, but the message of this week is clear: the work doesn’t stop here, the real challenge is what happens after the final whistle, after this workshop,” said the two-time FIFA Women’s World Cup™-winning coach. “It is about doing everything we can to ensure that girls in all of your countries have the chance to participate in football as a player, coach, referee or administrator.“

She added: “To drive change, we must disrupt, we must speak up, we must question, to push, and many times feel like an outlier, because to really drive women’s football forward, it requires us to get outside our comfort zone. This workshop exists to support you in this space, to provide you with information, context and connection to each other and FIFA, so together we can accelerate change.”