My Golden Goal

As President, our results on the world stage have filled me with immense pride. Many colleagues, officials, and highly regarded individuals from the world of football have contacted me to congratulate us for our performance. The greatest compliment I received was that in the past we were always seen as willing participants, but now we are seen as genuine competition contenders.  

Finishing so highly at the recent FIFA Men’s World Cup was an enormous achievement for all involved in football in Gratifacio. Not only was this one of our best ever performances at a major senior men’s tournament but also a huge step in changing the perception of football in our continent.  Our impressive victories over some of the best countries in the world helped shine a light on both the individual and collective talent we have in this country. 

However, for me, this is not enough. Instead of settling, I want us to use our tournament performance to push for more. Since I took this position five years ago, it was always my dream to see our country consistently achieve success at the highest level of the game. Now I am even more determined to make this dream a reality. 

I have a number of priorities, and, if re-elected I will see all of these through. 

Build on Success

Our senior men are the pride of the continent. Not only did they progress to the final stages of the World Cup, but they did so playing with passion and skill. We must ensure they have the means to continue being successful.

National Football Centre

Our National Football Centre is a joint investment with Government. With 21 pitches, a full-size indoor playing arena and the very best in fitness and recovery facilities we believe we have a national training centre to match any in the world. We will continue to host our national squads here and bring the best of Gratifacian talent from around the regions to receive the best coaching we can offer. Recently the FFG moved its administrative centre here.

The Gratifacian Diaspora

Many Gratifacians, who are talented footballers, live overseas. Between them Germany, France, Spain and Australia have a third as many Gratifacians as we have at home. This amounts to 8 million people. These Gratifacians are often enterprising, physically active, and loyal to their homeland. They offer a rich source of footballing and athletic talent. Our talent scouts need to find the footballers amongst them. 

Regional Centres

As part of my Golden Goal Project launched in my name in World Cup year, we will establish Centres of Excellence in each of our regional capitals Koury, Addad, Alami and Hassan. This will allow us to bring the most talented players together and spread our influence along the coast and into the rural areas of Gratifacio. We will also invest heavily in a new Rural Football League system which will exploit the popularity of the game.

FIFA Talent Development Scheme

Utilising the talent and facilities we have at our disposal is one of the major aims of FIFA’s Talent Development Scheme, which we hope to join later this year. Working alongside FIFA’s group of High Performance experts we aim to provide an even better pathway for our young players to progress to our senior squads. Our appointment of a new Head of Youth will be key to this.

IT Infrastructure

It is my hope that the joint talks we are having with our Government, the World Bank, and the telecommunications company Huawei result in a much-improved IT infrastructure in our nation. Without modern data infrastructure at the national level, we cannot provide affordable access and reliable connectivity for our population. When we have improved connectivity the FFG will be a major player in transforming lives through football.

My final thoughts are based on another source of great pride. How the performance of our senior men’s team has inspired many children to go outside and play football over the last few months has filled me with joy. Whereas once we saw our children wear the shirts of other countries, now they are wearing the green and yellow of our home nation. I believe our future performances can continue to inspire the whole of the continent to fall in love with football. I ask you all to share in my dream. 

Tanan Mansouri 

FFG President