By Andrew Warshaw
September 4 – African football officials, so often accused of being mired in political skullduggery, have formally adopted controversial new rules banning anyone outside their inner sanctum from running the sport in the continent.
The new Confederation of African Football (CAF) regulation was adopted at the organisation’s annual congress in the Seychelles and effectively puts paid to the aspirations of figures such as FIFA 2010 World Cup organiser Danny Jordaan (pictured below) from unseating long-serving CAF President Issa Hayatou (pictured top).
The amendment to the CAF statutes, which also rules out Ivory Coast President Jacques Anouma, states that those members without Executive Committee voting rights are no longer eligible to run for the continent’s top football job.
Anouma is one of Africa’s representatives on the FIFA Executive Committee but is only an ex-officio member of CAF’s top brass.
By disqualifying him and others from challenging Hayatou, the move will be seen by many as being totally undemocratic and ignoring attempts of other confederations to be more transparent.
Forty-four nations voted for the amendment, which was proposed by Algerian Football Federation President Mohamed Raouraoua, with six voting against and one abstention.
The obvious knock-on effect is that Hayatou, who has run African football for 35 years but has been tarnished by allegations of corruption, will be re-elected unopposed next year.
Last year Hayatou was reprimanded by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for having accepted kickbacks from FIFA’s former marketing partner ISL although he claimed the money was to fund CAF 40th anniversary celebrations.
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