Fouzi Lekjaa Optimistic on Improving CAF’s Poor Finances

Rabat – At the 45th Ordinary General Assembly of the Confederation, which was held in Abidjan, Ivory Coast on July 13, Fouzi Lekjaa, President of the CAF Finance Committee, presented the main financial statistics of African soccer’s regulatory organization.

The details shared show that the confederation is in a poor financial state, yet Lekjaa appeared confident this trend would be reversed from this year onwards.

“Our financial situation will enable us to mark a turning point from this year onwards, moving from a deficit of $50 million to a surplus in net income from the 2023-24 financial year, with a profit of around $4.2 million,” enthused the president.

Over the next three years, CAF’s net profit is expected to rise and may top $50 million. According to Lekjaa, this surplus will allow the confederation to fully fulfill its obligations and make significant investments to foster the growth of young people’s participation in sport and soccer.

Lekjaa provided further specific information, stating that the total revenue for CAF for the fiscal years 2021–22, 2022–23, and 2023–24 was around $125 million, $131 million, and $188.6 million, respectively.

Approximately $119 million has already been spent by the various confederation entities for the fiscal year 2021–2022. The expenditure will increase to $125 million for 2022–2023 and $156 million for 2023–2024, Lekjaa noted.

“CAF-its administration, our finance committee-has taken the decision to properly provision all instances of litigation for potential problems that could happen, in the range of $30 million dollars,” the Moroccan executive clarified.

Therefore, provisions for the resolution of disputes total $34 million for the 2021–2022 fiscal year, and they should rise to $30 million for 2022–2023 and $27.6 million for 2023–2024.

Right after the 45th Ordinary General Assembly was held the preliminary draw for the 2026 World Cup African qualifiers, where the Confederation of African Football (CAF) unveiled the 54 African countries that will compete for the next world cup qualifications.

These countries were categorized into nine groups, with each consisting of four teams.

By the end of the event, Morocco was placed in Group E alongside Niger, Congo, Tanzania, Zambia, and Eritrea.

The qualifying matches will take place over the course of the next two years, starting from November 13, 2023.