By Andrew Warshaw
April 8 – Any concerns Sepp Blatter may have had that his solid support base in Africa could be in danger of waning as he bids for a fifth term of office have been swept away. As expected, African Football Confederation chief Issa Hayatou pledged his members’ total backing for Blatter at this week’s CAF Congress.
“To us, he is still the man of the situation,” Hayatou told delegates in Cairo, prompting prolonged applause. “I am thus tempted to say to candidate Blatter that he is preaching to converts here at CAF.”
Blatter’s three rivals for the presidency also attended the Congress as observers but this was very much the present incumbent’s platform and he used the occasion to highlight FIFA’s development work in Africa.
“Together we have built football in Africa,” said Blatter. “We FIFA have invested about $760 million in Africa.”
But the summit was just as much about Hayatou making sure he would remain in power in Africa as it was giving Blatter a collective pat on both shoulders and promising him that all 54 CAF countries would vote for him on May 29.
Just when many reformists have been pushing for age and term limits for football’s powerbrokers, so Hayatou managed to ensure there was no danger of him losing his grip on the largest of FIFA’s six confederations.
A vote to remove age limits was unanimously passed, meaning a change in the statutes which previously prevented officials serving past the age of 70. It was proposed that because FIFA does not have age limits, CAF should follow suit.
Hayatou, who is now 68, would not have been able to stand for another term in office in 2017 unless the current rule was scrapped.
It was yet another tactical move by the all-powerful Cameroonian, who has been in the chair since 1988, to prevent any challenges to his authority. CAF has already brought in a rule that any candidates for its presidency must come from the ranks of its own executive committee, controlled of course by Hayatou.
Significantly, FIFA has no such restriction.
Hayatou has also managed to make sure all of Africa’s FIFA exco members are now singing from the same hymn sheet.
Tarek Bouchamaoui of Tunisia and Constant Omari Selemani of the Democratic Republic of Congo secured seats at FIFA’s top table during elections in Cairo.
The fall guy was Ivory Coast’s Jacques Anouma who had been seen as a possible threat to Hayatou. Anouma and his supporters believe the vote to prevent any non-CAF exco member from standing for president was a deliberate ploy to stop delegates like him from putting forward a challenge.
Algerian federation president Mohamed Raouraoua is also past history after a dramatic fall from grace. He was elected one of Africa’s four FIFA representatives only four years ago and touted as a possible successor to Hayatou. But he withdrew from this week’s ballot to avoid the possibility of a heavy defeat.
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