Fifa president Gianni Infantino will meet more than 50 presidents of African football associations in an unprecedented summit in Johannesburg this week.
Each of the continent's 54 member countries has been invited to a daylong executive summit with Infantino, called to discuss general issues in the game and explain Fifa's plans to expand the World Cup and changes to its development structures.
The association presidents will be divided into two groups with some 25 meeting Infantino and other Fifa officials tomorrow and the rest repeating the exercise the next day, organisers said yesterday. It is the first time such a summit has been held at which Fifa deals directly with all the leaders of African football.
Infantino, however, did meet about 20 association presidents in Nigeria last July in a gathering that pointedly snubbed long-standing Confederation of African Football (CAF) president Issa Hayatou and members of his executive committee.
Hayatou, 70, is seeking to extend his tenure in office into a third decade but faces a strong challenge from Ahmad of Madagascar, a former government minister who uses just one name. The CAF elections are to be held in Addis Ababa on March 16.
