The office is headquartered in Nyarugenge district, Kigali city in the building of I&M Bank.

The development is part of the Federation’s program to expand offices across the world.

The Regional Development Office will oversee football activities in Eastern Africa countries.

Similar offices are headquartered in Dakar, the capital city of Senegal, Johannesburg in South Africa and another one in Ethiopia which has been moved to Rwanda.

FIFA president, Gianni Infantino has revealed that setting up the office in Kigali is inspired by Rwanda’s ambitions to promote football and other development projects and expressed optimism that the office will help regional countries.

“Rwanda and Kigali are special places. I witnessed it last night. Whenever I visit Rwanda, I realize that it continuously becomes a beautiful and continues to promote football activities. We have to do great things to realize significant progress in football, education, Governance, fighting against corruption in Africa. I am optimistic that it will pave the way for the development of regional football,” he said.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr. Vincent Biruta who signed the Host Country Agreement with Mr. Gianni Infantino extolled FIFA for trust bestowed to Rwanda highlighting that ‘The Government of Rwanda will do everything possible to reach envisaged goals.’

Through the FIFA Forward Programme, FIFA enables football to grow globally and promotes the best possible conditions for football development worldwide.

FIFA Forward is built to provide 360-degree, tailor-made support for football development in each of our member associations and the six confederations.

In a bid to decentralize services and enhance efficiency among beneficiaries, FIFA has opened offices in different countries across the world and African countries including Senegal, South Africa and Ethiopia. The latter has been moved to Rwanda.

Following the successful implementation of the first edition of the FIFA Forward Development Programme 2016-2018, “FIFA Forward 1.0”, the second edition, “FIFA Forward 2.0” came into force on 1 January 2019 and will run until 31 December 2022.

FIFA seeks to inject almost US$3 million in the programme by 2022.

Since inception of FIFA Forward in 2016, the organization has opened new offices in many countries including India, New Zealand, Panama, Paraguay, Barbados and United Arab Emirates.

Establishment of the regional development office in Rwanda was approved by the cabinet meeting held on 4th January 2021.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Dr Vincent Biruta; the president of the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA), Gianni Infantino along with Rwanda’s Minister of Sports , Aurore Mimosa Munyangaju inaugurating FIFA Regional Development Office in Rwanda.