The Confederation of African Football (Caf) has doled out a total of $2.5 million to the five Africa qualifiers of the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
A decision was reached at a meeting on the sidelines of the 2018 FIFA World Cup draw to have Nigeria, Tunisia, Egypt, Morocco and Senegal share the amount equally to prepare for the tournament.
Last month, at its Executive Committee meeting, the continent’s football governing body set up an ad hoc committee to explore opportunities to help the five countries in their preparations.
Chaired by Caf’s First Vice President Kwesi Nyantakyi, the committee has as members all the presidents of the football associations of the five countries.
Caf Executive Committee member Kalusha Bwalya is also a member. Qualifiers for the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations in March, 2018 have been postponed indefinitely in an effort to give the African world cup representatives enough space to prepare for Russia 2018.
“The financial package will be used mainly to strengthen and improve the technical supervision of each team,” Caf said on its website. In addition, Caf will provide “fieldwiz” equipment, which is a technological device and physical performance measuring tool for outdoor team sports players.