FIFPRO Africa gathers 30 unions in Nairobi to sharpen player welfare agenda

FIFPRO Africa held its divisional General Assembly in Nairobi on June 4–5, bringing together player association representatives from 30 countries to set strategy on player welfare, labour rights and governance engagement.The meeting is a signal of growing player-union coordination in African football at a time when leagues, federations and clubs are under pressure to professionalise standards around contracts, medical care, workload and career transition support.Kgosana Masaseng, FIFPRO Africa general secretary, said: “Having representatives from 30 countries in one room demonstrates the strength and unity of the player voice in Africa. Our members operate in different football environments, but they share many of the same challenges. "This assembly allows us to learn from one another, strengthen our collective position and continue building a future where every professional footballer in Africa is represented and heard.”FIFPRO said the Nairobi gathering was one of the most representative in the division’s history and also included observer members seeking to organise players in their own countries, underlining an expansion push beyond established unions.Delegates shared national activity reports and compared approaches to supporting players, with the agenda spanning welfare systems, collective organisation and how to build durable social dialogue with governing bodies and leagues.A key theme was the need to translate football’s growing commercial value into basic protections for players, particularly around health security, financial resilience and post-career planning.Football Kenya Federation president Hussein Mohammed, speaking at the summit programme around the assembly, positioned player welfare as an operating requirement rather than a secondary issue.Hussein Mohammed said: “Football begins and ends with players. They are the most important stakeholders in the game. Every fan fills a stadium because of the player on the pitch. "Every sponsor, broadcaster and administrator derives value from the talent and dedication of the player. For football to thrive, players must operate in an environment that allows them to perform at their best and develop throughout their careers.”Mohammed also pointed to the role of capacity-building beyond the pitch, linking welfare to financial literacy and governance understanding as part of career durability.Hussein Mohammed said: “Twenty years ago, I started an initiative called the Super 8 League. This is way before I was president. One of the most important fundamental objectives of the Super 8 League was to ensure that we do capacity building for our players. "We realized earlier that beyond football, we need to also build the capacity of football players to understand the importance of financial literacy, which will help them post their careers. We need to help them understand the importance of governance so that it can help them also in matters of administration after or during their careers.”FIFPRO said international cooperation and labour rights were also part of the discussions, with the International Labour Organization’s guidelines for professional athletes referenced as a framework for safeguarding working conditions across sport.The assembly also featured engagement with wider stakeholders including CAF and African leagues, reflecting an intent to embed player representation more consistently into competition governance and decision-making across the continent.