Spotlight shined on CECAFA Zonal Union’s recent growth and future plans
Following the recent conclusion of the second season of the CAF African Schools Football Championship (ASFC), which came to a grand close in Zanzibar last month, President of the Zonal Union (ZU) that hosted the finals, Mr Wallace Karia of CECAFA spoke to CAFOnline about some of the plans in place to drive growth and development for the union.
The CECAFA oversees 11 CAF Member Associations, which include Burundi, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan and Tanzania.
Karia shares the Union’s vision and various plans for their upcoming competitions, as well as the benefits of the reconfigured operations by CAF in relation to its Zonal Unions.
What is your Vision for your Zonal Union?
We aim to grow CECAFA into a strong Zonal Union on and off the field by identifying and building areas of action towards sound and supportive administration of our MAs. Our Zonal Union will set and form the standard for football management and operations for Member Associations. We are working towards a self-sustainable, revenue-generating, and football development-focused Zonal Union that will enable its Member Associations to compete for honours in Africa and globally in all age groups and senior competitions for both men and women.
How has CAF's decision to reconfigure the operations of All ZU impacted your ZU, and to what effect?
The new Zonal Operational structure allows for a more intimate relationship between both CAF and the Zonal Union, as well as the Zonal Union and Member Associations. We do feel the closeness of the CAF MA Division in terms of day-to-day operations, and this has greatly enhanced the ability of our Zonal Union to execute its mandate.
What are some of the positive changes to regional football that are emerging because of the restructured ZU?
We are now experiencing quicker response from CAF to both the Zonal Unions and the Member Associations. This has helped streamline financial issues, Member Associations relations and grassroots football development in terms of capacity building for technical and management staff.
ZU presidents are now part of CAF EXCO. How important is this to the development agenda of regional football?
Zonal Union Presidents have the pulse of the Zonal Union and its Member Associations and intimately understand MAs' core work and operations. By sitting on the CAF EXCO, Zonal Union Presidents can paint a realistic picture of the Member Associations, thus putting CAF at the pulse of its MAs.
In what ways does organising Zonal competitions under the new structure help or hinder?
Organising Zonal competitions under the new structure sums up two major issues that are critical in Football Development. The first one is cost management since the new competition structure allows for Member Associations close to each other to compete together and as a result, manage travel and logistics costs.
Secondly, it does give all CAF Member Associations an equal opportunity to take a shot at qualifying for continental competitions. At Development and Age Grade level, it is a very fair opportunity.
What plans are in place and underway to ensure that the ZU retain some autonomy from CAF in their operations?
The Zonal Unions continue to work on increasing their capacity and grow their staff capability to ensure that they are well equipped to not only run their operations, but also address the needs of their Member Associations without having an over-reliance on CAF for day-to-day operations.