Representatives of ten African countries were welcomed at the FIFPro House for the General Assembly of Division Africa. On Wednesday 7 and Thursday 8 April they showed that the unions on the continent are rapidly moving forward. During the assembly it was obvious that FIFPro Division Africa is expanding across its continent. All representatives from the three member nations (Cameroon, Egypt and South Africa), the three candidate members (DR Congo, Ivory Coast and Morocco) and the four observers (Botswana, Ghana, Namibia and Zimbabwe) showed their passion and enthusiasm. Division Africa’s secretary general Stéphane Burchkalter (photo) was impressed with the reports given by all African associations. ‘I was very pleased with the important progress made by all observers and candidate members’, he said after two days in Hoofddorp. ‘Zimbabwe, Ghana, Morocco, Botswana, Ivory Coast, DR Congo and Namibia are working very seriously and are following the FIFPro requirements for membership.’ All African participants exchanged their experiences during the assembly with presentations. They also listened closely to four guest speakers. Ben Tegg asked for support for the 1Goal, Education for All program. Jean-Michel Bénezet summarized FIFA’s achievements with the project Win in Africa with Africa. And Djiba Diallo campaigned for United Against Malaria. Most impressive was the contribution of Hubert Velud, the coach of the Togo national team. Velud looked back at the dramatic incident in January this year when armed rebels attacked the bus with players from the national team of Togo and killed two escorts. All representatives expressed their support and sympathy, shared their emotions and stories, and discussed the consequences of the disqualification of Togo for the 2012 and 2014 African Cup of Nations tournaments. After two days of congress, Burchkalter looked forward positively: ‘Our African congress has come up with three goals we need to achieve: • we have to improve the social developments and the recognition between partners (league and federation) in the countries of the division; • we have to improve our relations with CAF and formalize an agreement this year; • with help of FIFA, we have to participate more actively with the managements of Win in Africa with Africa projects in the countries where FIFPro’s associations are well constituted.’