The highest international football governing body, Federation Internationale de Football Association, has organised a three-day capacity development workshop for students of the Pan African University Life and Earth Science Institute, University of Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria.
The ongoing FIFA workshop, organised in partnership with PAULESI and University of Ibadan, opened on Tuesday, is scheduled to close on Thursday.
According to Solomon Mudege, Head of Development Programme, Africa FIFA member Association Division, the workshop focuses education, anti corruption and stadium safety.
This, he said, was in line with the MoU that was signed by the African Union, FIFA and Confederation of African Football.
Mudege said that “We decided to get on PAULESI which happens to be the academic arm of the African Union especially the Pan African University, in this campus where they do sports management.
“We decided to work together to do something for the students to build up their capacity and we are honoured to be here because the students come from different parts of the world; from Egypt, Nigeria, Somalia, Sudan and so on.
“So, we felt that the impact of what we are doing we will be speaking to the African continent and playing our part in training future sports administrators in Africa.”
He stressed that the purpose of the workshop was to equip the students and spur interaction among stakeholders in football development within the African continent.
The Director of PAULESI, Prof. Titilayo Akinlabi, explained that the MoU was signed in a bid to encourage sports on African continent.
The university don said, “We literally keyed into the implementation of part of what was in the MoU which touches on human capital development in the field of sports on the African continent.
“And, because PAULESI has the MSc programme in Sports Management and Policy Development wherein we take in students on annual basis for the programme, we are working in collaboration with FIFA to host the workshop.
“This is to bring on board what FIFA stands for and synergies on how we can bring in more activities on the African continent.
She stated that the aim was to attract global attention to Africa through support from FIFA especially in areas of sports science and management.
Olufemi Adegbesan, a Professor of Sports Psychology, UI who doubles as Coordinator, Sports Management and Policy Development, PAULESI, said that the capacity development workshop would enhance futher collaborations such as development of football academy on the campus, opportunities of internship with FIFA for students of PAULESI as well as scientific collaboration on research among others.
Participants at the workshop were taken through sports psychology, sociology, sports culture and anti corruption among others by facilitators from FIFA and CAF.
