Ex-FIFA Development Chief Joins ACG as African Sport District Push Gathers Pace

LONDON – Former FIFA Chief Member Associations Officer Kenny Jean-Marie has joined the Advisory Board of African Collaborations Group (ACG), adding extensive experience in football development, institutional reform and sports infrastructure to the London-based organisation’s push to develop bankable sport-led infrastructure projects across Africa.

ACG announced the appointment on Wednesday, as the organisation continues to build an advisory team drawn from senior figures in global football and sports governance.

Jean-Marie served at FIFA from 2020 to 2024, overseeing the governing body’s relationships with its 211 member associations and six continental confederations.

During his tenure, he led the third cycle of FIFA Forward, the organisation’s development programme, overseeing $2.25 billion in investment across areas including football infrastructure, coaching, grassroots development and women’s football.

He also played a role in establishing FIFA’s Paris office.

Jean-Marie previously spent three years at the French Football Federation, where he served first as Chief of Staff to the president before becoming Director of Institutional and International Relations.

His career also includes senior roles in the French public service and navy. He worked at the Ministry of the Interior, served as a naval officer and trained at the École Nationale d’Administration.

From FIFA development to federation reconstruction

Jean-Marie’s appointment comes as he takes on another major institutional challenge.

Since March 2026, he has been leading the reconstruction of the Ligue Guadeloupéenne de Football, the football federation in his home region of Guadeloupe, following the collapse of its previous structure into judicial liquidation.

His mandate includes financial reconstruction, developing new governance statutes and rebuilding relationships between clubs, government and international football bodies including FIFA and CONCACAF.

That experience is particularly relevant to ACG’s ambitions, where major sport infrastructure projects require governments, football authorities, investors and other stakeholders to operate within a coherent institutional and financial framework.

ACG builds its advisory bench

Jean-Marie joins an Advisory Board that has recently attracted other senior figures from international football and continental sports governance.

Former FIFA Secretary General Fatma Samoura, the first woman and first non-European to hold the position, has joined the board, as has Rugby Africa president Herbert Mensah, who also serves on the World Rugby Executive Board.

The appointments point to ACG’s effort to combine football and sports governance expertise with its infrastructure ambitions.

ACG founder and Executive Chairman Nicolas Pompigne-Mognard was appointed in 2022 to FIFA’s Task Force for Infrastructure Development in Africa, established under FIFA president Gianni Infantino to accelerate the development of FIFA-standard facilities on the continent.

ACG, an APO Group initiative, subsequently emerged from that work.

Moving beyond the stadium

At the centre of ACG’s strategy is Victory District™, a model for mixed-use sport and entertainment precincts designed to generate economic activity beyond match days.

Rather than focusing on a stadium as a standalone asset, the model combines sporting facilities with commercial and entertainment components, supported by operations and maintenance plans and financing and public-private partnership structures.

ACG says its approach is intended to generate jobs, develop skills and create opportunities for young people while making sport infrastructure financially sustainable.

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The strategy reflects a longstanding challenge across Africa, where major stadiums and sports facilities built for tournaments and other major events have in some cases struggled to generate sufficient revenue to cover their long-term operating and maintenance costs.

ACG argues that integrating commercial, entertainment and community uses into broader districts can help address that problem.

An African project in the pipeline

ACG says it received an exclusive mandate in December 2025 from the presidency of a major African country to originate and coordinate the early development of its first Victory District project.

The organisation has not publicly identified the country or disclosed the proposed site.

ACG was also seeking a founding chief executive to lead the project, according to information released in late 2025.

Jean-Marie’s arrival adds an executive with experience spanning football governance, development finance and institutional reconstruction as ACG works towards turning the concept into a functioning infrastructure project.

The appointment does not, however, establish when construction will begin or identify the project’s government partner.

The test is delivery

Jean-Marie’s appointment gives ACG a senior adviser with direct experience of managing large-scale football development programmes as well as repairing institutions facing financial and governance problems.

That combination could prove important if ACG’s proposed sport districts move from concept and mandate into implementation.

The next test will be whether the organisation can translate its growing roster of international sports leaders and its Victory District model into publicly identified projects, financing agreements and, ultimately, infrastructure on the ground.

For now, the expansion of its Advisory Board signals that ACG is positioning itself at the intersection of sport, infrastructure, government and investment as African countries look for ways to make major sporting assets commercially and socially sustainable.