Turning Cosafa into a beacon - De Almeida

...new president eager for region to lead

“We have to share knowledge with other people. Then we'll be bigger.”

That was essentially the key message of Artur de Almeida e Silva, who was installed as the new Cosafa president at the Elective General Assembly held in Windhoek over the weekend.

The Angolan Football Association president was on Saturday, 14 May, elected unopposed to the position to replace Dr Phillip Chiyangwa of Zimbabwe, who served as Cosafa head for the previous five years.

De Almeida is adamant that given the size of the region, Cosafa should be at the forefront of football excellence, instead of the current status quo that has seen only three teams representing the zone at the Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon), which was held in Cameroon earlier this year.

Only Malawi, Comoros and Zimbabwe made it to the previous edition of Africa's top national team competition; a situation that is unacceptable, the new Cosafa president alluded to during his acceptance speech at the Hilton Hotel.

“Cosafa is a big zone; an influential zone. We are big but you are alone… for what?” De Almeida, who is more comfortable speaking Portuguese, expressed in English. His comments related to what he regarded as matters of urgency for the new leadership.

He articulated that working closer with all member associations and their respective governments will be the main focus of his leadership.

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It is for that reason that he believes the member associations must share what they know with each other and the rest of Africa.

“We can… share knowledge with other zones. Everyone can say: ‘You can learn from Cosafa'. We'll be bigger because everyone will talk about you. You help but you bring value for yourself also,” he stated.

De Almeida was joined on the executive body of Cosafa by Comoros Football Federation president Said Ali Said, who is the vice-president; Timothy Shongwe (Eswatini); Walter Nyamilandu-Manda (Malawi); Faizal Sidat (Mozambique); Brenda Kunda (Zambia) and Khiba Mohoanyane (Lesotho). Cosafa statutes say that at least one ordinary member must be a woman.

Thirteen of the 14 Cosafa member associations were present at the Elective General Assembly. Zimbabwe were the only absentees as the country is currently on suspension from Fifa, who have barred that country's FA from football activities.

Several delegates from the rest of Africa, which included members of the media and other Confederation of African Football (Caf) member associations, were also present during the event.

Caf president Patrice Motsepe was one of the keynote speakers.

“We can… share knowledge with other zones. Everyone can say: ‘You can learn from Cosafa'. We'll be bigger because everyone will talk about you. You help but you bring value for yourself also.”