World Athletics President Lord Sebastian Coe has praised African countries for their athletes’ performances on the world stage and urged the continent’s leaders to position themselves to host major international athletics events, as executives of the Confederation of African Athletics gathered in Accra on Sunday ahead of the 24th CAA Senior Athletics Championship.
The Executive body of the Confederation of African Athletics (CAA) convened with Lord Sebastian Coe at the African Regency Hotel in Accra on Sunday, 10 May 2026, to deliberate on technical and organisational matters for the upcoming African Senior Athletics championship, a competition set to draw elite track and field athletes from all 54 member countries of the continent.
Lord Coe, who serves as President of World Athletics, commended African countries for the standard of their athletes’ performances at international competitions. He challenged member countries to make bold and strategic decisions towards securing bids to stage top-tier global athletics events on African soil.
The Executive body of the Confederation of African Athletics (CAA) convened with Lord Sebastian Coe to deliberate on technical and organisational matters for championship, a competition set to draw elite track and field athletes from all 54 member nations of the continent.
Hon. Kofi Adams, Ghana’s Minister for Sports and Recreation, delivered a spirited address affirming Africa’s readiness to step up as a host of world-class athletics events. He cited Botswana’s successful staging of the 2025 World Athletics Relays as a demonstration of the continent’s growing capacity.
Africa is ready to host. Like Botswana did with the World Relays, Ghana will stand with any African country ready to host world championships. Let us work hard to improve upon our facilities.
Hon. Kofi Adams noted that African countries are making meaningful strides in developing modern sports infrastructure and are demonstrating increasingly high performance on the track and in field events. He affirmed that Africa would continue to seek capacity building support, pledging to work collectively as a unified bloc.
The Minister also highlighted the distinctive nature of athletics as a discipline, drawing a distinction between the demands of track and field and those of other sporting codes. He revealed that Ghana is actively working to improve sports funding through the establishment of a dedicated Sports Fund designed to support athletes with financial assistance, equipment, and access to quality facilities.
Hon. Adams further commended Fuseni Bawa, President of the Ghana Athletics Federation, for his bold and decisive leadership in securing the championship for Ghana, the first time the country has hosted the prestigious event. He called on World Athletics to give serious and favourable consideration to African countries bidding to stage world-class athletics competitions.
Tuwei Jackson, Vice President of the CAA, reinforced the message of African unity, urging African countries to speak with a single, collective voice in pursuit of the development of African athletes and the sport at large.
We are one in collectively building our infrastructure. Tuwei Jackson – Vice President, Confederation of African Athletics
Additional remarks were delivered by a distinguished panel of Ghanaian sports leaders, who added their voices to the call for greater investment and ambition in African athletics.
