CAF Silent on US Visa Policy Seen as Racist, Betraying African Football Fans

On December 5, at the draw for the 2026 World Cup finals in Washington, FIFA President Gianni Infantino awarded US President Donald Trump the first-ever “FIFA Peace Award.” “This is what we want from a leader – a leader who cares about the people,” Infantino said. Just three days earlier, during a cabinet meeting, Trump called Somalis “garbage” and said, “their country is not good for some reason… It stinks, and we don’t want them on American soil.”

The issue goes beyond the absurdity of awarding a “peace prize” to a president with openly racist views. That attitude has been translated into policy, directly affecting African nations that have qualified for the World Cup. Four countries whose teams are set to play in the US are on Trump’s travel ban list; two of those are Senegal and Ivory Coast. Haiti, the third, has a population of African descent. While athletes, coaches, and support staff are officially exempt, countless fans will be unable to travel to the US to support their teams.

Additionally, three other African World Cup qualifiers – Algeria, Tunisia, and Cape Verde – fall under a visa bond program requiring applicants to deposit up to $15,000 to obtain a visa. There are no exceptions for World Cup fans. In Tunisia, disposable income per capita is just over $500, meaning a Tunisian fan might have to pay a bond 30 times their income.

Meanwhile, South Africa’s ambassador, representing another African nation that has qualified, was expelled, and the US administration made baseless allegations of genocide against a white minority that once governed under the apartheid regime.

CAF has issued no statement, nor has any African national football federation spoken out. That silence is a direct betrayal of what CAF once stood for.

In 1964, FIFA allocated 10 spots to Europe, four to South America, and one to Central America and the Caribbean for the 1966 World Cup. The remaining spot was for teams from Africa, Asia, and Oceania. Ghana’s sports director Ohene Djan, backed by President Kwame Nkrumah, sent a telegram protesting to FIFA. Ethiopia joined in, calling FIFA’s decision “an economic, political, and geographical mockery.” When FIFA refused to revise the allocation, 15 African federations withdrew. The 1966 World Cup took place without an African team. In 1968, FIFA was forced to give Africa and Asia each one spot. Every African World Cup appearance since then stems from Djan’s telegram.

CAF was founded in 1957 by four federations: Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia, and South Africa. South Africa was expelled from AFCON that same year for refusing to send a multi-racial team. CAF formally expelled South Africa in 1960; FIFA only did so in 1976. South Africa’s 1996 AFCON victory, the 2010 World Cup in South Africa – all rest on the actions of a CAF that had little leverage but was willing to speak up.

Today, CAF has 54 member federations, is fully integrated into FIFA’s revenue and governance structure, holds nine World Cup slots, enjoys large AFCON revenue streams, benefits from FIFA Forward funding, and has a president who also serves as FIFA vice president. A confrontational stance now carries real institutional risk. This integration has created a federation whose survival depends on never acting on the principles it was founded to defend.

There are actions CAF could take without major losses: publicly demand that host countries issue standard visas to all ticketed fans from CAF nations; request that matches involving teams from fully banned countries be moved to Canada or Mexico; and formally join the ethics complaint against Infantino filed in December.

If current CAF leaders do nothing to ensure equal treatment for African fans, they will send a message entirely different from the one Djan sent in 1964: that they fully accept bowing to powerful governments and turning a blind eye to inequality, discrimination, and injustice.