Officially, FIFA approves 4 candidates for the CAF presidency, and it knows them
FIFA has approved the approval of four candidates for the post of president of the Confederation of African Football, including Mauritanian Ahmed Ould Yahya, while Malagasy President Ahmed Ahmed, who is arrested on charges of corruption, has been excluded.
After undergoing additional checks, the FIFA Review Committee gave the green light to Yahya and South Africa's Patrice Mutsepi to join Senegalese Augustin Senghor and Ivory Coast Anoma.
The elections are scheduled to be held on March 12th in the Moroccan capital, Rabat.
Ould Yahya wrote on his Twitter account, "Happy to announce the approval of my candidacy for the presidency of CAF and the position of Vice President of FIFA by the FIFA Monitoring Committee."
The International Federation sent two letters, which were seen by Agence France-Presse, to Mozebi and Ould Yahya, to inform them of "the approval of the candidacy for the position of President of the African Union and Vice President of FIFA."
The African Union Governance Committee announced on January 6 that the two candidacies of Mauritania and South Africa were in need of "additional checks."
Malagasy President Ahmed Ahmed was excluded from applying for a second term after being suspended by FIFA for five years from all football activities due to corruption cases on November 23, despite his appeal against the decision to the Sports Arbitration Court.
The Judicial Chamber of the Ethics Committee condemned Ahmed, 61, who has been chairing the continental federation since 2017, of violating several articles related to "the duty of loyalty ... offering and accepting gifts or other benefits ... abuse of position" as well as "mismanagement of funds."
Ahmed was arrested for a short period and under investigation in France in June 2019 on suspicions of corruption before his release, knowing that he arrived at his post ending a 29-year sentence for Issa Hayatou, winning 34 votes against 20 for the influential Cameroonian, who was also haunted by numerous corruption scandals.
Lawyer Senghor, 55, has been heading the Senegalese Federation for 11 years and Goree Club, an island off the capital Dakar where he also holds the position of mayor.
Ivory financial expert Anoma (69 years), who previously chaired his country's federation, accompanied the strong rise of his country's national team, which qualified him to participate in the 2010 and 2014 World Cups.
In turn, Mauritanian businessman Ould Yahya (44 years) has chaired his country's federation since 2011. In his mandate, the "Al Mourabitoun" participated for the first time in the 2019 African Nations Cup.
After his election as president of his country’s federation in 2011, Ould Yahya, former president of FC Nouadhibou, said, “The lethargy of Mauritanian football is not inevitable until we surrender to it, but it is a disease that needs treatment.”
As for the South African businessman Mozibi, he made his fortune in the mining world.
He heads the Mamelodi Sundowns club in Pretoria, which won the CAF Champions League in 2016.
Each of the 54 member federations has a vote, while those who achieve the simple majority wins in the first round.
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