Augustin Senghor of Senegal, Ahmed Yahya from Mauritania, Jacques Anouma, and Patrice Motsepe are in a fierce battle for the top jobs. The election is slated for March 12 in Rabat, Morocco. CAF President Ahmad Ahmad has been slapped with a five-year suspension by the world governing football body, Fifa.
Candidates for CAF’s top job
Augustin Senghor
Augustin Senghor has been President of the Senegalese Football Federation since August 2009. The 55-year old lawyer has a wealth of experience. Seen as Ahmad Ahmad’s unofficial heir. Wants to “tend towards the professionalization of African soccer” Gabon, Gambia and Gabon are his main supporters. He presents himself as “a pan-Africanist candidate” for the presidency.
Ahmad Yahya
Yahya, 44, is a businessman and President of the Mauritanian Football Federation. He is the youngest of the four Mauritanians in charge of the national team. Mauritania is ranked 206th out of 209 in the Fifa ranking. “I have the youth, but also the experience of more than 20 years in the soccer world,” he says.
Jaques Anouma
Jacques Anouma is a former President of the Ivorian Football Federation. The 69-year-old financier is also a former member of the Comex of Fifa. He was a candidate in 2013 to lead CAF but was dismissed by a change of rule “timely” He is one year away from the age limit and can only run for this mandate, at 69, editor-in-chief of Senegal newspaper says.
Motsepe, the surprise
South Africa’s Patrice Tlhopan Motsepe is the least known of the four presidential candidates. The 58-year old businessman is the President of the Mamelodi Sundowns club since 2003. He is the brother-in-law of South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa. Many observers see him as the favorite Fifa candidate.
Scoop-Gh