Landmark World Bank, IOC, and AFD Report Confirms the Case for Integrated Sport and Entertainment Infrastructure in Africa

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates : African Collaborations Group (ACG) (www.ACGafrica.com), the leading strategic project origination and collaboration platform focused on the industrialisation of sport in Africa through the origination of bankable sport and entertainment district ecosystems, today welcomed the publication of “Unlocking the Potential of Sport in Africa,” a landmark 356-page report published jointly by the World Bank, the International Olympic Committee (IOC), and the Agence Française de Développement (AFD), with contributions from the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA), and Laureus Sport for Good.

The report, co-introduced by Makhtar Diop, Managing Director of the International Finance Corporation, and Christophe Lecourtier, Director General of the AFD, represents the most comprehensive analysis ever produced on the economics of sport in Africa. It draws on original survey data from nine African countries, a mapping of sport policies across nearly twenty governments, and a systematic review of the academic evidence on the impact of sport on development.

ACG welcomes the report because its central findings and recommendations validate the model ACG was founded to deliver.

The report confirms that Africa’s sport economy represents less than 1% of the continent’s GDP, compared with approximately 2.5% in Europe, representing a significant and largely untapped opportunity for growth. It identifies the lack of integrated infrastructure as one of the primary barriers to unlocking that potential.

On stadium infrastructure, the report warns explicitly against the risk of “significant underutilisation” of stadiums built for major events, stating that jobs created by major sporting events are “generally temporary, linked to the construction of infrastructure,” and that economic returns are “very localised, unevenly distributed across populations, and not durable in terms of employment, skills development, or infrastructure use.”

The report’s recommendations call for exactly the model ACG is building:

• Developing legacy strategies from the preparatory phase, including impact and legacy plans before construction begins, clarifying governance of infrastructure after the event, and using sport infrastructure as a lever for employability, entrepreneurship, and training.

• Connecting sport, tourism, transport, hospitality, media, security, and local entertainment to transform temporary visitor flows into lasting economic benefits.

• Developing public-private partnerships where the public sector provides the land, the institutional framework, and accessibility objectives, while the private sector contributes expertise in construction, management, programming, and maintenance.

• Promoting local SMEs and structuring a sport value chain close to local demand, retaining in Africa a greater share of the value created by sport.

• Investing in training for sport-adjacent professions: infrastructure management, maintenance, events, security, audiovisual, marketing, and sports animation.

Every one of these recommendations describes a dimension of ACG’s Victory District™ model: integrated, mixed-use sport and entertainment districts combining 15 to 20 asset types, from stadiums and arenas to hotels, conference centres, training academies, retail, entertainment, cinemas, restaurants, residential, commercial offices, schools, and media production facilities, designed to generate revenue 365 days a year. ACG invests at the pre-development stage, creating the conditions for institutional and private investors to finance projects that are bankable and financially sustainable.

“The World Bank, the IOC, and the AFD have now published what amounts to the evidence base for exactly what ACG is building,” said Nicolas Pompigne-Mognard (www.Pompigne-Mognard.com), Founder and Executive Chairman of ACG. “The report confirms that standalone stadiums built for a tournament and abandoned after the final whistle do not deliver lasting economic impact. It calls for integrated infrastructure, public-private partnerships, legacy planning from day one, local SME development, and diversified revenue streams.”

ACG’s CEO, Paulo J. Cruz, who joined from DAMAC Group, the Middle East’s largest private real estate developer, added: “This report provides the institutional validation that every government and every development finance institution we engage with has been waiting for. The question is no longer whether integrated sport infrastructure is the right model for Africa. The World Bank, the IOC, and the AFD have answered that question. The question is who is going to build it. ACG is already at the table.”

In 2022, Nicolas Pompigne-Mognard was appointed to the FIFA Task Force for Infrastructure Development in Africa and mandated by FIFA President Gianni Infantino to develop a new model for sport infrastructure on the continent. He founded African Collaborations Group (ACG) to deliver it. Its CEO, Paulo J. Cruz, brings 28 years of infrastructure origination experience across Africa, the Middle East, and Europe, most recently as Senior Vice President at DAMAC Group (USD 9.8 billion in sales in 2025). Its 28-member Advisory Board includes former FIFA Secretary General Fatma Samoura, former World Bank Executive Director Paulo Gomes, the Co-Founder of the World Football Summit Jan Alessie, the President of Rugby Africa and Executive Board Member of World Rugby Herbert Mensah, and leaders from across global sport governance, international finance, infrastructure, media, broadcasting, and entertainment.

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