By Daily Sports on December 22, 2017

Africa’s premier football business event, the Football Africa Forum (FAF), will stage its second edition in Lagos, Nigeria, on February 19-20, 2018 and it will coincide with FIFA’s Executive Football Summit, which is also taking place in the city.

The Forum will primarily focus its discussions on club ownership, player welfare, and coaching and football agents respectively.

The Forum aims to become Africa’s biggest football stakeholder and knowledge sharing platform to debate the future of football on the continent.

It will kick off with a lively debate on the role of Government in sustaining the development of football and lessons from other developing countries where the sport has been prioritised over all others due to its low cost investment, required from the state to support the continued growth of football.

Government officials and football administrators will exchange their thought leadership on the “how to” of continuing to build football at grassroots level.

The aspect of “private club ownership” is also major conversation in Africa and many countries are following the route of the rest of the world in corporatising their clubs for increased commercial benefits.

The Forum will present a full panel discussion on the options available to clubs in Africa to turn their clubs into greater commercial brands by going the “private ownership” route.

It will feature a “Football Player Session”, where matters pertaining to the welfare of football players will top the agenda in discussion between, leagues, clubs, players, unions, land football agents.

The Forum will focus on the aspect of financial support and pension schemes as well as investment opportunities for all stakeholders inclusive of their commercial empowerment in football business. 

The Forum will also host the “Elite Coaches Seminar” allowing the continent’s best minds to debate the future trends of coaching as well as their role to advance the technical ability of African players and the competitiveness of our teams on the international stage.

The African Football Intermediaries Association (AFIA) will stage its second meeting during the Forum with the main objective to build its membership across the continent.

A West African chapter of AFIA will be established and agents are encouraged to build the AFIA as a unified voice for their industry and to take up issues on their behalf.

Agents are also called upon to serve on the various working and sub-committees of AFIA.

In a first for Africa, football agents will also participate in a separate session introducing each other to their counterparts from other countries on how to work together marketing their players to clubs in other parts of the continent.

Agents are encouraged to work through their colleagues in other countries to make it easier to introduce their players to clubs in those markets.

An Agent’s Poster Board will also be displayed featuring players on their rosters and one on one meetings with other delegates could also be arranged wherein players could show video clips of their players to prospective clubs.

All agents attending the Forum will also have their players included in the “African Football Players Directory”, a digital quarterly publication, which will be distributed to more than 10,000 clubs around the world.  Agents, attending the Forum will each, as a once off, receive a limited amount of “free-profiles” to feature their players.

The African Academies Tournament for U17s will also be launched at the Forum. The tournament will take place in South Africa from October 1-6, 2018. It will feature 32 teams from the six different African football regions and scouts from all over the world will be invited to attend the tournament.

The “African 100 Football Power List” will be released at the Forum, featuring the most influential people involved in football on the continent. It will list the personalities who have made a major impact on the game and were extensively featured in the media over the last year.

The Forum is expected to adopt the “African Football Development Charter”, which will promote broader commitment of people involved in the sport across the continent.

Source Daily Sports

Posted December 22, 2017

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