Africa Patrice Motsepe And Ahmed Yahya Cleared To Run In CAF Presidency Elections

Fifa’s Review Committee has given update on the Confederation of African Football (Caf) presidency elections to take place 12th March.

The Committe has cleared South African Patrice Motsepe and Mauritania’s Ahmed Yahya to run for the challenge. Despite previous doubts over the duo’s eligibility. They will take on Ivorian Jacques Anouma and Senegal FA president Augustin Senghor.

Doubt hang over the candidacies of Motsepe and Yahya earlier this month. On 8 January, a Caf statement said ‘further checks were necessary before a final decision‘ on Motsepe (the tenth richest man in Africa according to Forbes magazine), the billionaire owner of South Africa’s Mamelodi Sundowns, and Yahya, who has led Mauritania’s FA since 2011.

A day later, Caf’s interim president Constant Omari organised an Emergency Committee meeting. Whereupon the Fifa would determine the candidates’ eligibility.

Upon election, the Caf president automatically assumes a vice-presidency role with the global body.

Caf had previously said a hearing for both Motsepe and Yahya would be organised in Cairo on 28 January. But it is unclear whether this will still happen. Caf Governance Committee head Michel Brizoua-bi declined to comment. As BBC Sport Africa asked him on Tuesday if this meeting will still go ahead.

Madagascar’s Ahmad Ahmad, who had been hoping to bid for a second term as Caf president until he was banned by Fifa in November, has been deemed ineligible to run in the elections.

He is appealing his ban at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) where even a reprieve, should one come, is likely to arrive too late to re-install his name on the list of candidates.

March’s elections will take place in the Moroccan capital Rabat, with the victor serving a four-year term.


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