African football: eight years of crises at CAF, in five acts

Text by: David Kalfa Follow

An audit of the African Football Confederation (CAF), conducted by the company PwC, points to many drifts and multiple dysfunctions within CAF. This affair is just another crisis among those that the Cairo-based institution has been going through for eight years.

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Act I : the flip-flop of Issa Hayatou (2012-2013)

We are in March 2011 in Sudan and Issa Hayatou is seriously considering handing over after 24 years of presidency at CAF. The head of the body since 1988 has just accompanied the first World Cup on African soil and has successfully launched a new competition, the African Nations Championship. The recent editions of CAN (Egypt 2006 and Ghana 2008) have been rather successful in their ways, as will be those of 2012 (Gabon-Equatorial Guinea) and 2013 (South Africa).

There are of course serious shadows on the table ( a catastrophic CAN 2010 marked by the drama of Cabinda and recurrent accusations of corruption). But, before the final of CHAN 2011, the Cameroonian, who suffers from serious health problems, says he is ready to leave. Unless asked to stay, he said, however. What certain members of his entourage - too happy and used to the privileges of football - will not fail to do, multiplying the praise for him.

In 2012, Issa Hayatou therefore changed her mind. He decides to run for a seventh term. Problem: Jacques Anouma, his main rival, wants to take over. Behind-the-scenes maneuvers begin. The close guard of Issa Hayatou ensures that the General Assembly votes new statutes which de facto exclude Anouma from the nomination contest. Only one person elected to the CAF Executive Committee - which is not the case for the Ivorian - can now be a candidate. The “Lion” of Garoua was re-elected, by acclamation and without adversary, in March 2013 in Marrakech, despite procedures before the Arbitral Tribunal for Sport (CAS) and the sling of certain West African federations.

Act II : too much for Issa Hayatou (2013-2017)

The following four years will not ease tensions, despite a few bright spots in the financial field (partnership with the Total group, and signing of an agreement with the company Lagardère Sports for $ 1 billion).

First of all, the African Cup of Nations must change host country twice in a row. Morocco refuses to host CAN 2015 on the scheduled dates (officially, for fear of the Ebola virus), then Libya is unable to host CAN 2017 . In addition, the Cameroonian does not manage to clinch a sixth place in the World Cup for Africa for the 2018 (Russia) and 2022 (Qatar) editions, when that was his big stated goal. Above all, in 2014, his country obtained the organization of CAN 2019 and Guinea, beaten for the award of CAN 2021, recovered CAN 2023 without any real call for candidates for this edition. Even today, CAF leaders denounce a gift made to Issa Hayatou and her ex-colleague and Guinean friend Almamy Kabele Camara.

These choices also mark a turning point in the relationship between Anglophones and Francophones at CAF. They provoke the fury of delegates from East Africa (CECAFA) and Southern (COSAFA). And it is precisely from the ranks of COSAFA that the one who will bring down Issa Hayatou will emerge.

Act III: the indirect consequences of the “ Fifagate ” (2015-2016)

Meanwhile, the boss of African football must act as head of the International Federation (FIFA) in his capacity as the oldest vice-president. The omnipotent FIFA president Joseph Blatter resigned on June 2, 2015, following an incredible series of scandals , which occurred just before his re-election. This "Fifagate" led to the downfall of many leaders of world football, including the French Michel Platini.

CAF and its members, however, emerged relatively unscathed from this indescribable chaos. Issa Hayatou thus leads the institution until the election of Blatter's successor, scheduled for February 26, 2016.

A few days earlier in Rwanda, CAF gave its " full support " to the boss of the Asian Confederation (AFC), Sheikh Salman Bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa (Bahrain). Gianni Infantino, UEFA general secretary, also went to Kigali, on the sidelines of the 2016 CHAN, to defend his candidacy before African voters . But the Swiss is not really welcome.

The Cameroonian will quickly regret it. To everyone's surprise, Infantino was elected President of FIFA . Anyone who has built their campaign on promises of reform and transparency wants to do away with the Blatter system, of which Hayatou has become an essential element.

Act IV : Ahmad's victory and cascading reforms (2017-2018)

Gianni Infantino has always defended himself from having contributed to the fall of Issa Hayatou. Nevertheless, when the boss of FIFA went to Addis Ababa in March 2017 for the sixtieth anniversary of CAF, relations between the two institutions became appalling. The cordial understanding that prevailed during the reign of Joseph Blatter seems indeed over.

Gianni Infantino, he has multiplied visits to countries often won over to the cause of Ahmad, the other candidate for the presidency of the African Football Confederation. Even if he suspects the International Federation of riding for his opponent, the Hayatou clan does not distrust Malagasy enough . Big mistake: to everyone's amazement, the latter won widely, 34 votes to 20 . Furious, the loser takes part in the head of the FIFA administration, the Senegalese Fatma Samoura. He accuses him of having campaigned against him . Twenty-nine years of power end in confusion.

As soon as elected, Ahmad displays his (big) ambitions. He embarked on a series of measures and reforms: redesign of the African Cup of Nations with a transition from 16 to 24 teams, reorganization of the administrative services of CAF, questioning of the contract with the Lagardère Sports Company ... New boss of the African football particularly criticizes Cameroon, supposed to host the CAN 2019 and which has already accumulated a lot of delay in the preparations.

Act V : From slip to slip (2018-2020)

Unable to organize a 24-day CAN, Cameroon must cede the 2019 edition, which will then be entrusted to Egypt. But the new CAF leaders have foreseen everything: they are embarking on a perilous exercise in lag. To Cameroonians, they offer a CAN 2021 already promised to Côte d'Ivoire. And to the Ivorians, they offer CAN 2023. Guineans are asked to accept a postponement to 2025. After much tension and uncertainty, the three countries accept this improbable shift.

CAF emerges seemingly unscathed from this balancing act. Especially since the CAN 2019 in Egypt turns out to be rather successful . But behind the scenes, it's a different story. Several members of the Executive Committee are arrested by the courts and / or sometimes excluded from the world of football by FIFA. The Secretary General of the Confederation, Amr Fahmy, is fired. The Egyptian has sent the FIFA Ethics Committee a file against his boss. Ahmad is there pell-mell accused of abuse of power, sexual harassment ... In June 2019 in Paris, he is heard by local justice for a contract with a French company.

Freshly re-elected, Gianni Infantino decides to take matters into his own hands. He dispatched Fatma Samoura for a six-month mission to Africa. PwC also conducts an audit on the functioning of the Cairo-based institution from 2015 to 2018. Either from the end of the Hayatou years to the start of Ahmad's term. The auditors' conclusions give the image of a gangrenous and adrift organization . On February 14, 2020, the Executive Committee must meet. The reforms necessary to break CAF from an impasse will be on the agenda.

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