The President of the Council of East and Central Africa Football Associations (CECAFA), Paulos Weldehaimanot Andemariam has graced the Somali Football Federation (SFF) Annual General Assembly.

Andemariam commended SFF for the positive strides made during the Assembly held in Mogadishu on Thursday.

The Annual General Assembly brought Federation executives, regional representatives, club delegates, and key stakeholders to review the past season and set new priorities.

The assembly carried significant regional weight with the attendance of CECAFA President Paulos Weldehaimanot, who delivered a strong message of support for Somalia’s recent progress.

In his remarks, the CECAFA President praised Somalia’s historic breakthrough in Women’s football, noting that the region had long awaited the moment when Somali girls would finally compete in the CECAFA U-17 Women’s Championship. He highlighted the team’s memorable victory over Sudan, describing it as “a door of hope opened for Somali youth.”

He also celebrated Somalia’s rising profile on the global stage through elite referee Omar Abdulkadir Artan, who was recently honoured as Africa’s Best Referee.

He concluded by affirming that the relationship between CECAFA and the SFF is now “stronger than ever,” and pledged continued regional support for Somalia’s football ambitions.

SFF President Ali Abdi Mohamed expressed pride in the Federation’s achievements over the past year. He noted that Somalia successfully implemented several key projects, including for the first time participation in the CECAFA Women’s Football Tournament, a milestone that marked a new chapter for the women’s game in the country.

Delegates discussed youth development, national team performance, infrastructure needs, and the expansion of women’s football.

KVZ FC will represent Zanzibar in the 2026/2027 TotalEnergies CAF Champions League.

The KVZ FC side emerged champions of the 2025/2026 Zanzibar PBZ Premier League giving the army team the ticket to play in Africa’s biggest tournament.

KVZ FC were crowned champions on Friday after finishing with 67 points from 30 matches played, while JKU SC came second with 64 points.

Hussein Ahmada, General Secretary of the Zanzibar Football Federation (ZFF) says they had a successful season. “We thank all the teams and our sponsors PBZ Bank for the constant support of Football,” added Ahmada.

The Zanzibar champions will however start their test of continental Football when they take part in the regional CECAFA Kagame Cup to take place in Rwanda next month.

Several members from Member Associations in the CECAFA Zone are attending the 2026 FIFA Executive Football Summits 2026 in Miami, United States.

The Presidents and General Secretaries of Member Associations of Burundi, Sudan, Kenya, Ethiopia and Rwanda have joined other members from around the world to exchange ideas, strengthen relationships and shape the future of the game.

Among other things the summit is being used as a platform to sensitise Member Associations on key FIFA programmes, including the FIFA Forward programme and the scheduled launch of FIFA Forward 4 in January 2027.

Mattias Grafström, the FIFA Secretary General opened the plenary session by setting out the summit’s dual ambition: a formal programme of sessions covering youth development and strategy, alongside the informal exchange of ideas that has become a hallmark of the event.

FIFA Executive Summit 2026

The FIFA President Gianni Infantino also thanked all members for attending the Summit. “Ten years ago, those of you who are a little bit older maybe remember the Development Programme that FIFA had was granting to every Member Association one million (US dollars) in four years, meaning 250,000 US dollars per year,” said Infantino.

He explained that today with FIFA Forward 3.0, Member Associations receive US$8 million (around two million every year), to invest in competitions, to invest in infrastructure, and to invest in football-related projects.

He also added that the FIFA Series, which was played in a total of 12 different countries in 2026 between the women’s and men’s editions, was an example of how FIFA was helping MAs. Rwanda and Kenya hosted the FIFA Series this year for the men and Women respectively.

Africa’s top male referee Omar Abdulkadir Artan has been selected to officiate the the Union of European Football Associations – UEFA Super Cup final in August, 2026.

“We’re pleased to share that Somali referee Omar Artan will officiate the highly anticipated match between PSG and Aston Villa in Salzburg,” said the statement from UEFA.

The development comes after the Somali referee was selected to officiate at the FIFA World Cup 2026, but was denied entry into US early this week and returned back home.

The European soccer body UEFA said Artan will referee the math on August 12th game between the Champions League winner Paris Saint-Germain and Aston Villa, the Europa League winner. The game will be in Salzburg, Austria.

The European Soccer body said the decision to appoint Artan to officiate the UEFA Super Cup match has been made in the framework of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) recently signed between UEFA and the Confederation of African Football (CAF) to encourage cooperation in many areas, including refereeing. “UEFA and CAF are united by a shared commitment to developing football at all levels and promoting the core values of unity, equality and non-discrimination,” said UEFA on their website.

On Wednesday Artan received a hero’s welcome back in Mogadishu, and also met the President of the Federal Republic of Somalia, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud.