Ahmad takes Caf reins from Hayatou

DANNY JORDAAN, the SA Football Association president, has finally been invited to the Confederation of African Football’s top table following several failed attempts to get there over the years.

The veteran administrator clinched 34 votes and is now part of the Caf executive committee. But the big news of yesterday’s general assembly in Ethiopia was the election of a new Caf president.

Ahmad Ahmad, the little known head of the Madagascar FA, dethroned Issa Hayatou – managing to gather 14 more votes than the incumbent, whose supremacy as the head of African football had stretched to nearly 30 years.

The elections were held in the Ethiopia capital of Addis Ababa, with the federation celebrating its 60th anniversary.

Hayatou, who has been president since 1988, was re-elected unopposed four years ago and was seeking an eighth four-year term, but this time he had a stiff challenger in Ahmad, who said he was initially not interested in running until he was approached by other member associations who were desperate for change.

The two gave remarks before the voting begun at the Nelson Mandela Hall, the headquartersof the African Union, with Hayatou’s speech predictably longer than that of his challenger.

Ahmad plea was for the voting federations to opt for change when they went to the polls – and that they did, ushering in a new era.

Once the ballots were counted, it was then announced that 57-year-old Ahmad had been elected Caf president and was to serve the continent for the next four years.

A CAF executive member prior to running for the hot seat, Ahmad received 34 votes, while Hayatou garnered only 20.