Ahmad backing challenges Hayatou
Southern African countries’ backing of Madagascar’s Ahmad in the race for the Confederation of African Football (Caf) presidency has put the Council of Southern Africa Football Associations (Cosafa) region at loggerheads with long-standing ruler Issa Hayatou.
Ahmad — a former government minister who uses just one name — hopes to deny the 70-year-old Hayatou taking his reign of the African game into a fourth decade when Caf elections are held in Addis Ababa‚ Ethiopia, on March 16.
The weekend decision of Cosafa to back Ahmad publicly is the first serious sign of dissent that Hayatou has faced since becoming president in 1988.
With Fifa president Gianni Infantino backing Ahmad’s bid‚ the southern region is to become a further major battleground over the coming days.
Infantino has invited about 20 African football association presidents for a summit on youth and women’s football in Johannesburg next week‚ conveniently timed so that he might be able to influence the election.
This is to be followed by a one-day meeting in Harare on February 24 called by the new Cosafa president, Philip Chiyangwa‚ an enthusiastic supporter of Ahmad.
But Hayatou has told Chiyangwa he may not hold the meeting if he is inviting presidents from outside his region. If he does so, he will boycott it.
But Chiyangwa‚ said to be one of Zimbabwe’s richest men‚ has rejected the threat‚ saying the meeting is a party to celebrate his being voted Cosafa president in December and to mark his birthday.
South African Football Association president Danny Jordaan is also standing for Caf elections‚ seeking a seat on the Fifa council and the Caf executive committee.