Masaseng humbled by FIFPRO role

Footballers Union of Botswana (FUB) secretary-general, Kgosana Masaseng says he is humbled by his appointment as the new deputy secretary of FIFPRO Africa. Masaseng assumed the new position of the continental body last week during the FIFpro Africa congress held in South Africa.

The position is newly created to try and manage the transition at FIFPRO Africa. “It (the appointment) has brought about mixed reactions. I have had a lot of messages of support from fellow Batswana and some within the FIFPRO family that I have been lucky to work with for the past 11 years.

This is a new position, which was created to seamlessly manage the transition beyond 2025. When Division Africa was created in 2007, the current secretary-general, Stephane Burchkalter was appointed to help introduce unions in Africa,” Masaseng told Mmegi Sport yesterday. He said progress made by FIFPRO Africa in the last 11 years and the need for stabilising the growth was an important basis for preparing the future and this is what informed the succession plan.

He explained that in order to realise this process, the FIFpro Africa board initiated the transition process that would see the nomination of a deputy secretary this year who would then act in support of the secretary-general for the 2021 to 2023 period.

In the two years, Masaseng will be learning and growing into the new function after which he will then assume the role of the new secretary-general. “Some of the main functions of my role are to ensure that there is a follow-up of the policy orientations before the annual congresses, increased supervision of the budgets allocated to the Division.

It is also to check if the division’s development programmes guarantee the transparency and good governance desired by all members,” he said. Masaseng has previously served as head of finance and professionalism committee at FIFPRO Africa, a position which focused more on strengthening the operations of the unions. He said FUB has for some time now been cited as one of the leading unions across the world on matters of players welfare.

“Serving in this committee came with some opportunities to learn from global best practices as I served in the core team that developed strategies for our member unions in Africa,” he said. Masaseng added that the positive thing about the new position is that he will be able to suggest interventions based on the realities on the ground.

“It is for this reason that the country can easily benefit from my experience as I would be easily accessible. In some instances we can both look at the future path and plan together to advance the welfare of players,” he said.

Among some of the resolutions made at the weekend congress was that there is a need to create a real status and establish labour contracts for the professional footballers as well as clear regulations on the rights and duties of the different stakeholders of professional football in Africa.

“It is also worth noting that sometime in June, our board engaged the CAF secretary-general, Veron Mosengo-Omba, who acknowledged that players must now have their rightful place and promised to consult us on major issues, such as the calendar and the creation of new competitions.

So, we are hopeful that going forward, we will be able to work well with CAF on a number of issues affecting players,”

Masaseng said.