A three-day high-level FIFA financial governance workshop, aimed at providing participants with the latest insights and tools for enhancing financial governance and accountability in football administration, has begun at the Marriott Hotel in Accra.
Organised by FIFA, the workshop is held under the newly established FIFA Campus, which serves as the central football learning hub for all FIFA capacity development and education initiatives forsss General Secretaries and Chief Finance Directors of 10 member associations.
The member associations include Cape Verde, Gambia, Kenya, Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and host, Ghana.
The workshop will also focus on strategies for improving financial transparency, effective resource allocation, and best practices to align with FIFA’s standards of financial management.
Opening the workshop, the Vice President of the Ghana Football Association (GFA), Mr Mark Addo, applauded FIFA for holding the event, he said would deepen the understanding of financial governance, which is the cornerstone of integrity, accountability, and transparency in football.
According to him, transparency, accountability, and ethical governance practices are paramount to FIFA, which mandates member associations to adhere to rigorous finance standards to maintain trust and integrity in the operations of football.
He charged participants to bear in mind that financial governance was not just a technical responsibility but a moral and ethical duty to the millions who look to the various association’s officials as custodians of the game.
FIFA’s Head of Financial Governance programme, Christoph Suppiger, indicated thatt his outfit’s commitment to developing football around the world depends on sound financial management to ensure that member associations get the best value for money for the funding distributed through the FIFA Forward programme.
The workshop started with a presentation of the Financial Governance Guide, after which discussions, group work, and case sessions on topics such as conflict of interest, planning and budgeting, and the procurement process, took place.
BY RAYMOND ACKUMEY
