Tomorrow 16 March 2017 will be the day Africa makes history as the Ordinary Congress of the Confederations of Africa Football (CAF) holds an election in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to decide the future of Africa Football.
The CAF Presidency is on the line as Incumbent Issa Hayatou is facing what is probably his fiercest challenge yet in the shape of Ahmad Ahmad, a Football Administrator from Madagascar who has vowed to unseat him from the position he has held for almost 3 decades.
Hayatou is widely regarded as a dinosaur, and has outlived his usefulness in African football, hence the call for fresh blood. His administrative career stretches from as far back as 1973 when he was Coordinator at the Lycée Leclerc in Yaounde, Cameroon.
He was elected President of CAF in 1988 and has held that position till today.
Both candidates have been forwarding last minute campaigns in Addis Ababa, to swing as many votes as possible to their side in what is anticipated to be tightly contested election.
And whichever candidate wins, the 2017 CAF elections will leave a huge mark on the African game.
HAYATOU’S ADMINISTRATIVE CAREER.
- 1973 – 1974 Coordinator-Professor at the Lycée Leclerc (Yaoundé)
- 1974 – 1983 General Secretary of the Cameroon Football Association
- 1982 – 1986 Director of Sports of Cameroon (Ministry of Youth and Sports)
- 1985 – 1988 President of the Cameroon Football Association
- 1986 Member of the Cameroon Football Association Executive Committee
- 1988 – present President of the Confederation of African Football
- 1990 Member of the FIFA Executive Committee
- 1992 – present FIFA Senior Vice-President; President of the Organising committee of the Football Olympic Tournaments of FIFA (till 2006); Vice-President of FIFA Committee for Security and Fair-Play; Member of the World Cup Organising Committee
- 1997 Member of the Women and Sport Committee of the International Olympic Committee; Head of the Cameroonian sports delegations on several sporting occasions
- 2001 Elected member of the International Olympic Committee during the Moscow session
- 2015 – 2016 Acting President of FIFA.
