Walter Wilson Nana
Buea, Cameroon
Issa Hayatou, President of the Confederation of African Football, CAF and the President of the world governing football association, FIFA, Swiss-born Joseph Sepp Blatter are expected in Yaounde, Cameroon on Monday, May 5 2014. This information has been made public by the CAF Media Division.
According to a statement from CAF, Cameroonian-born Hayatou, who has been at the helm of the African football governing body for two decades and more and Blatter will be coming to Cameroon to inaugurate the CAF Centre of Excellence in Mbankomo, outskirts of Yaoundé.
Issa Hayatou of CAF(L) and Blatter of FIFA to Visit Cameroon May 5
CAF will on Monday, May 5 2014 mark another milestone in continental football development as President Issa
Hayatou, FIFA President Sepp Blatter and members of the CAF Executive Committee converge on Yaounde for the official commissioning of the first CAF Football Centre of Excellence.
The official opening of the Center of Excellence in Mbankomo is scheduled for 10:00 AM Cameroon time at the multi-sports complex which is 30kilometres outside Yaoundé. It will be followed by similar centres in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and Dakar, Senegal in the months ahead.
Built in the environs of lush vegetation, on approximately 6 acres of the 23 given in concession by the Government of Cameroon to CAF, construction of the first phase of the Centre of Excellence in Mbankomo was completed in 2009. It became operational in 2010 and has played host to CAF training, development workshops and seminars. It has served as a retreat for Cameroon’s Indomitable Lions, training base for the Stallions of Burkina Faso ahead of AFCON 2012 and hosted a number of first division games of the Cameroon national championship.
Mbankomo has three football fields; two synthetic turf and natural grass, spaces for basketball, handball, volleyball, an Olympic swimming pool, a gymnasium equipped with fitness equipment at the cutting edge of technology, a conference room with 110 seats, four meeting rooms with quality sound equipment seating up-to 30 persons each for technical preparation of players, seminars and workshops, a restaurant with seating capacity of 104 seats, a terrace bar and luxurious rooms.
To ensure uninterrupted operations, the CAF Excellence Centre in Mbankomo has autonomous electric power, with three generators and a treatment plant with a storage capacity of 120,000 litres of water.
