Kaizer Chiefs and the Motaung family has been reserved for special praise by the President of the Confederation of African Football Dr. Patrice Motsepe.
Motsepe was speaking on Wednesday at the Sandton Convention Centre at the official signing ceremony of their partnership extension with African Global Logistics (AGL) for the upcoming Women’s and Men’s Africa Cup of Nations tournaments over the next 12 months.
- ALSO READ: Nabi Praises Chiefs Duo After Injury-Hit Defence
- Khune – The Best Player Of My Generation
AGL was heavily involved in the continental showpiece in Ivory Coast which Motsepe and many regard as the most succesful AFCON to date in terms of entertainment, viewership and profitability of the biennial event.
However, as he addressed the development of club football in Africa, he stopped for a special mention of Amakhosi, who are on the brink of returning to CAF inter-club football for the first time since reaching the final in the 2020/21 season.
Chiefs are in the Nedbank Cup final and could secure a place in the Confederation Cup with a triumph in the Soweto Derby against defending champions Orlando Pirates, or qualify as finalists with various permutations currently running in their favour.
“As I was walking in, Lucas was talking to me, we were talking about many things but I said I’m happy Kaizer Chiefs is back in the Confederation Cup because if you grew up the way I grew up, you cannot develop South African football without a successful Kaizer Chiefs,” he said at the Sandton Convention Centre today.
“Let me quickly say without a successful Golden Arrows, AmaZulu and all the others, so they feel… I have a duty recognise all of them. But I’m so proud, and proud of the work the Motaung family is doing and I say the same thing about Mbabane Swallows, Chiefs in Botswana and all the countries where we need to develop club football.”
As four African clubs, Al Ahly, Wydad Athletic Club, Esperance Sportive de Tunis and Mamelodi Sundowns are a couple a months away from representing the continent for the expanded FIFA Club World Cup in the United States of America, he reiterated the needs for corporate and sponsorship investment in the local game to develop clubs and naturally national teams to bridge the gap of the elite across the globe.
“We will be going to America in a few months with the best clubs in the world, the very best, I was in Miami for a few weeks and I was told when you have Brazil play it’s beautiful but when you have Mbappe, Vinicius Jr. and all the others in the same team it’s something to be proud of,” he said.
“We want the best of Africa – to be competing, the best of African football to be competing with the best of world football, we’re confident… part of our objectives is an Africa nation winning the World Cup, that is the aim, we recognise it needs investment and commitment.
“Where we have countries where heads of state support and loves football, those are the countries that usually succeed enormously.”
