World football governing body, the Federation of International Football Association, FIFA, will finance the construction of a technical centre, at Kabala, near the Malian capital, Bamako, a sports source told PANA on Monday.

FIFA will also implement a Technical Support Programme (TSP) to strengthen the National Technical Directorate of the Malian Football Federation (FEMAFOOT).

A mission from FIFA and the French Football Federation (FFF) paid a visit to Mali last week to assess the project to build the technical centre.

The mission consisted of the FIFA Regional Director for West Africa, El Hadj Wack Diop, the consultant in charge of the TSP for the FFF, Ludovic Debru, a member of the FFF technical management, the FIFA Regional Technical Consultant for West and Central Africa, Dominique Niyonzima, and the FIFA/FFF TSP expert at FEMAFOOT, Malik Boulegroune.

El Hadj Diop, a Senegalese, recalled that Malian football has gone through a relatively long crisis and as an umbrella organisation, the role of FIFA was first and foremost to help Mali emerge from the crisis.

“The concerted development plan that we agreed on has resulted in a strategic document, which has been validated, and which requires a whole process that will culminate in the creation of a national academy that will be housed in a quality technical centre,” he said.