Djiboutian Football Federation has confirmed the complete expansion of
football throughout the country, making sure that children in every tiny
village in the small horn of African nation enjoy football.

The historic approach was declared during the Federation’s annual general
assembly which concluded at the National Technical centre on Wednesday
with the attendance of all stakeholders including the country’s five
regions, referees’ association, the coaches’ association and as well as
the beach soccer.

The current federation whose good governance and continued activities were
admired by the stakeholders and the entire people in the country, has now
completed the reform process that have been going on for the past several
years with the approval of the electoral code by the General Assembly.

“The electoral code which has been submitted and unanimously approved
today completes the reform and the good governance that we wanted to
implement from the beginning of our mandate in order to lay the
foundations of a strong federation with transparency in place” Djibouti
Football Federation president, Souleiman Hassan Waberi, told in his
address at the conclusion of the General Assembly on Wednesday.

The president said that his federation made a tangible progress in
football although the results the country gained in its last matches were
not how they were expecting.

“The year 2015 is now over, but through the year Djibouti’s appearance in
international competitions was higher than any year in the pas” the
president said adding that the country participated in the preliminaries
of CAN 2017, the CHAN, World Cup for U17 and U20 CAN For women.

“I am very proud that we are now going into the right direction” the
president mentioned during the prolonged address. He said that Djibouti’s
women’s youth national team made a wonder at the Arab women’s youth
competition in Doha early this year, where they finished 2nd place and
came back home with the silver medal. This was the first time Djibouti
reached such stage in any football competition.

“We made good progress in the sector of refereeing as our referees have
been more active in the region. The organization of first beach soccer
tournament, the revival of women’s football and the expanded youth
football tournaments for both boys and girls are something we are very
proud of” president Souleiman Hassan Waberi said.

He said that two football facilities with artificial turfs were
implemented in Ali Sabeih and Tadjourah regions, adding he will make sure
that every region has at least one top class football facility.

Vice president of Djiboutian national Olympic committee, Faissal
Abdourahman, who addressed at the Annual General Assembly, said that the
country’s highest sport governing body was well admired with the huge
progress made by the FDF for the past three years.

“We are really very impressed by the achievements made by our football
Federation so far and as the nation’s Olympic committee, I promise that we
are always on your side” Mr. Faissal Abdourahman, told the General
Assembly.

The General Assembly approved the new electoral committee, the electoral
code and as well as committees including: the disciplinary committee, the
appeals committee, the ethics committee and the audit committee.

However, three delegates who spoke on behalf of the stake holders lauded
for the president’s vision towards football promotion in the country. They
are Youssouf Hamid Iwad [Tadjourah region], Djamal Aden [Referees’
Association] and Omar Elmi of the Djibouti University Football Club.

They all acknowledged that Football in Djibouti has made a lot of progress
since the young age president Souleiman Hassan Waberi elected as president
just three years ago.

They commended the president for making sure the implementation of all
development programs he promised during his post election address three
years ago.

By Shafi’i Mohyaddin Abokar
Member of CECAFA Media Committee

Collins Okinyo

Ex- CAF Media Expert. An expert on African football with over 15 years experience ,always with an ear to the ground with indepth knowledge of the game. I have worked for top publications including 7 years at www.supersport.com until i founded www.soka25east.com to quench the thirst of football lovers across the continent. I have trained young upcoming journalists who are now a voice in African football.I have covered World Cup,AFCON,CHAN,Champions League,Confederations Cup,Cecafa,Cosafa,Wafu and many other football tournaments across the World. Founder Football Africa Arena(FAA),Founder www.afrisportdigital.com