Burkina Faso league: players let their anger show

How a damaging situation arose

At the press conference to present Brama Traoré as the new coach of the Étalons of Burkina Faso on 11 March, FBF president Lazare Banssé stated that the 25% of the grant allocated to clubs would not be paid out to them. It will be used to run the youth-category championship. As a logical consequence, clubs no longer have any grounds to claim that sum, which has provoked so much debate. "The clubs demanded the 25% because we had not organised the youth-category championship. From the moment we decided to organise the championship (in Burkina) that question is moot. We can organise it, we will organise it. This debate will no longer take place. The new protocol settles the original sin of the 25% deduction. It is the state that dictates, it is its money. Now if you want benefits, you make your case through advocacy," he said.

During the same press conference, Lazare Banssé hinted that a committee would be set up to try to bring the different parties in the dispute together. A few days after Banssé's remarks, the regional leagues of Hauts Bassins and Centre, which hold the vast majority of Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 clubs, decided to suspend their participation in the activities of the Burkinabè Football Federation (FBF) until further notice. In two separate letters with identical wording and reasons, dated 13 March 2024 for the Hauts Bassins regional league and 14 March 2024 for the Centre regional league, and addressed to Lazare Banssé, the two major regional leagues in Burkina cite the crisis affecting Burkinabè football as the cause.

According to the two leagues, their radical decision stems from the decision of the Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 clubs in Burkina to suspend their participation in the Federation's activities until further notice, and from the refusal of the teams concerned to take part in the 2022-2023 youth-category championship, given that the regional leagues are an emanation of the clubs in question. For now, sporting activity, including the men's Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 championships, remains at a standstill in the country, and the end of the tunnel is still a long way off.

The players' frustration

Mindful of the values that underpin Burkinabè society and the practice of football, and above all convinced of the need to promote women's football and protect the gains made by Burkinabè women's football after a first historic appearance in the finals of the Africa Cup of Nations in 2022, the clubs committed to defending their players' interests decided on 15 March to break their silence and vent their frustration. In light of the decisions by the Hauts Bassins and Centre regional leagues to suspend their participation in the activities of the Burkinabè Football Federation (FBF) until further notice, the women's football clubs of Burkina in Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 want calm restored and activities to run smoothly. "Given the seriousness and the repercussions this suspension could have within clubs, women's clubs in particular, we, the women's clubs, want calm restored and dialogue resumed between the parties concerned so that activities can restart fully and in a calm atmosphere. We, the women's Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 clubs, call on the Women's Football League (LFF) and the Burkinabè Football Federation (FBF) to take urgent measures to ensure our championships run properly," they said in a message.

On the divisive issue of the 25% of the grant allocated to clubs, Sekou Pare believes: "People do not realise that you cannot be approximate when it comes to finances. If this money is not used to run the youth-category championship (in Burkina), it will simply be paid back. If it is used for any other purpose, that will be misappropriation."

Read more on the same subject: Burkina Faso: those involved tell the story of the crisis in football

Rahimo FC general secretary Lassina Sawadogo gives more details on the situation. "The clubs have never refused to play the youth-category championship. The clubs are saying they will not play the 2022-2023 season's youth-category championship in 2024 when the 2023-2024 one is due to be played in 2024. They showed on technical grounds that the 2022-2023 championship cannot be played in 2024 because licences are valid for one season, unless the federation (of Burkina) falsifies the licences by lowering participants' ages by a year. The clubs have asked for their money back because they are the ones who handed it over to the FBF to organise that championship. If it cannot be organised, it should be returned to them," he reveals.

The Rahimo FC general secretary went further, explaining that at the meeting bringing together Burkina's football stakeholders (Ligue 1 and 2 clubs and the Burkinabè Football Federation) with FIFA, represented by its regional director of the member associations division for Africa, Gelson Fernandes: "FIFA acknowledged with the clubs that, short of manipulating the licences, this championship cannot be played, and said it would not authorise such manipulation." The crisis shaking Burkinabè football is far from over, as the status quo remains after this meeting between FIFA's regional director of the member associations division for Africa, Gelson Fernandes, and Burkinabè football's stakeholders. Nothing has moved and positions remain entrenched.

Ablam GNAMESSO