For the last three years, the CAF Safety and Security Department has been on a drive to improve the standards of safety and security measures in African football.

This week, as part of this drive, over a hundred women safety and security officers from all over the African continent were invited to attend a CAF Safety and Security debrief session.

This workshop was designated only for women who are operating or interested in the safety and security area in football from Federations.

The debrief session is part of CAF’s drive to champion women advancement in sport safety and security and it is the first of many that will be organised.

It aims not only to have more women involved in safety and security field but to also create capacity in the continent in organising sport events

Addressing the seminar, CAF Chief Operations Officer, Abi Ijasanmi said: “We want to see African football reach new heights and for this to happen, we must improve all the time. Women have a big role to play in this journey. I am optimistic that these sessions will lead to this group of women that is being trained playing a meaningful and big role in creating capacity in Africa. We have noted the tremendous improvement in Safety and Security.”

CAF Head of Safety and Security, Dr Christian Emeruwa added: “ The involvement of women in safety and security operations is part of our strategic plan to develop all round capacity in Africa among Africans. CAF believes that for us to achieve the desired goal we must encourage and support women participation in safety and security roles and this is why we first had to organize this debrief to introduce them into the role and after this we will proceed with the organization of trainings and capacity development programmes” We need to balance the equation and this is our grand plan in safety and security to give women equal opportunities to support in the delivery of safety and security services across Africa I am very proud and excited about this initiative.”

 The debrief session underscored the need to promote safety and security culture in all CAF competitions and tournaments as well as enhance safety and security operations during CAF Events while supporting member associations in the development of capacity for the delivery of safety and security services across Africa.

Among the women that participated in the debrief, CAF will organize a workshop for all of them and later select among them those that meets the criteria to be CAF safety and security officer and invite them to the CSSO workshop later in the year after which they shall be paired with experienced CSSO for missions until they are certified good enough to handle matches independently.