FIFA President travels to Zimbabwe and South Africa

FIFA President travels to Zimbabwe and South Africa
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FIFA President Joseph S. Blatter visited the Zimbabwe Football Association on Monday 4 July on his way to South Africa to Durban for the 123rd IOC Session.

As is the standard procedure on such visits, the FIFA President is usually invited to meet with key national dignitaries. During his stay in Zimbabwe, Blatter met the country's President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai separately, and discussed with both the football development challenges the country is presently facing and the ways to move forward and exploit the potential of game.

Blatter watched the 2011 COSAFA Women’s Championship, a regional football tournament supported by FIFA, and was present for the official opening ceremony of an artificial football pitch created under the umbrella of FIFA’s ‘Win in Africa with Africa’ programme, work on which was completed in June 2009. This multi-faceted programme had a budget of USD 70 million, and was designed to ensure that the entire African continent, and not just South Africa, would benefit from the hosting of the 2010 FIFA World Cup™.

Finally, the FIFA President kicked off the second phase of construction of the Zimbabwe FA’s youth training centre in Harare. This construction work, which will encompass the construction of a new football pitch and the refurbishment of the existing building, falls under the remit of FIFA’s Goal programme. Launched in 1999 by Blatter, the Goal Programme has to date provided support for over 500 development projects across the world, with a total of USD 200 million having been invested.