Fernando Simões ousts controversial Artur Almeida e Silva as Angola FA president

December 4 – Fernando Simões has succeeded Artur Almeida e Silva as the boss of Angolan football after winning the presidential elections at the Angolan Football Federation (FAF).

Simões defeated both the incumbent Almeida e Silva and Norberto de Castro with 128 votes. De Castro got just 9 votes and Almeida e Silva 113. He ran a programme of professionalising the Angolan league, developing the women’s game and ending the practice that the clubs must cover the costs of the referees.

Simões will serve a four-year term, ending the controversial eight-year reign of Almeida e Silva. In 2015, Almeida e Silva was convicted by a Luanda court for attempting to embezzle $10 million from telecoms company Unitel.

He won re-election as FAF president in 2020, but a local court suspended the election result. FAF’s electoral commission had barred candidate Norberto de Castro from standing. Then FIFA’s chief member associations officer Véron Mosengo-Omba wrote to FAF that the federation ran the risk of being suspended over third-party interference. Almeida e Silva is also the president of Cosafa.

On the field, Angola will play in the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations after winning Group F in the qualifiers. It will be their tenth participation in the continental finals. At the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, the Angolans reached the last eight but exited the competition against eventual finalists Nigeria.

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