By Andrew Warshaw
April 7 – After enduring a collective assault on his presidency by the three men bidding to unseat him, Sepp Blatter was doubtless feeling far more comfortable today as the election campaign switched from UEFA to the Confederation of African Football Congress (CAF).
Africa has declared itself solidly behind Blatter and unlike in Vienna last month, his three election opponents will not be addressing delegates in Cairo, with the veteran present incumbent given the floor to deliver a speech that will doubtless cement his support in the region.
Presidential candidates Prince Ali bin al-Hussein of Jordan, Dutch FA chief Michael van Praag and former Portugal international Luis Figo will attend the Congress only as “observers,” CAF said.
Just as Blatter is seeking a fifth term, so his one-time foe but now staunch ally, CAF boss Issa Hayatou (pictured left with Blatter), is seeking to extent his own lengthy presidency.
Hayatou wants to scrap age limits, allowing him to stand again in 2017, and as such an amendment to the statutes seemed certain to be passed.
Although the focus is again on the FIFA election campaign, CAF has a number of its own thorny issues to address, not least the fallout from Morocco winning its appeal against being thrown out of the next two African Nations Cup tournaments by its own confederation, plus Zimbabwe being banned from the 2018 World Cup qualifiers by FIFA.
CAF was also due to hold elections for two new African places on FIFA’s executive committee as well as choosing a substitute venue for the 2017 African Cup of Nations to replace war-torn Libya. Algeria, Gabon and Ghana were the three candidates.
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