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FIFA head to meet Bolivian President Morales

Xinhua, March 29, 2016 Adjust font size:

Newly elected world soccer head Gianni Infantino will arrive in Bolivia on Wednesday for the third stop in his first South American tour, announced the head of the Bolivian Football Federation (FBF), Rolando Lopez, on Monday.

Lopez also confirmed, during a news conference in La Paz, that part of Infantino's visit will include a trip to the central city of Cochabamba to meet with Bolivian President Evo Morales. During this meeting, Morales will hand over an award to the FIFA chief in a ceremony to be held at the local government office.

Infantino will stay in the South American country for two days, taking into account that on Thursday there will be a friendly match between President Morales' team and a team made up of former world soccer stars such as Brazil's 1994 World Cup right back Cafu and defensive midfielder Fernando Hierro who used to captain Real Madrid and Spain's national team.

Infantino began his South America tour on Monday in Paraguay where he met with President Horacio Cartes. On Tuesday he will travel to Uruguay and then onto Cochabamba, Bolivia.

According to Lopez, Infantino, along with Bolivian soccer club leaders, will analyze the construction plans for a high performance soccer center in Cochabamba.

"The FIFA president's main interest is to see the high performance center completed," said Lopez.

This sports center has been half finished on around 900,000 U.S. dollars worth of investment from the FBF in the Vinto municipality, according to Lopez.

To finish the work, an additional 100,000 U.S. dollars are needed along with another 200,000 U.S. dollars for equipment, said Lopez.

"I hope that as soon as Gianni Infantino leaves, the next week, we are already going to be working on finishing the high performance center in Vinto," added Lopez, confident about FIFA's cooperation to complete this project.

According to official sources, the FIFA president will arrive on March 30 around 16:00 (20:00 GMT) at the Jorge Wilstermann Airport, Cochabamba.

On March 31 he will hold a news conference with local media and he will watch the friendly match along with Bolivia's president. Enditem