CAF President Patrice Motsepe has called on Africans to remain confident in the continent’s progress despite ongoing challenges in football administration, particularly those surrounding the 2025 AFCON finals in Morocco.

Speaking at a press briefing in Dakar on Wednesday following an engagement with Senegal officials Motsepe expressed satisfaction with the strides made so far but cautioned against allowing setbacks to dampen optimism.

‘’I'm enormously happy because by all standards, we have made enormous progress. But what I want to discourage Ordinary Africans in the continent is that there will always be problems.

"And some of those problems, like the problem we're having now with AFCON 2025 final in Morocco. And you should not excessively feel demotivated or even feel uninspired and say, you see what's happening in Africa.

"They make progress and then they go back, and then they make progress and they go backwards. When there are problems, we must be confident and deal with them and make progress.

Motsepe’s remarks comes at a particularly tense time for CAF following its surprise decision to overturn Senegal’s 1-0 win over hosts Morocco in the Cup of Nations final on January 18.

The ruling prompted a strong response by Senegal, whose government has called for an international investigation into suspected corruption within the institution and susbsequently appealed the ruling at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

He is expected to visit Morocco for similar engagement as he seeks to ease tensions between the two countries.