By Osasu Obayiuwana
August 5 – beIN Sports, the international pay-tv broadcaster, financed by the government of Qatar, is officially the number one financial partner of the Confederation of African Football (CAF).
August 5 – FIFA’s secretary general Fatma Samoura has officially started her reforming mission at the Confederation of African Football (CAF) despite strong opposition from within sections of African football’s hierarchy.
By Osasu Obayiuwana
July 31 – In a further twist to the controversy that has bedevilled last May’s abandoned African Champions League final in Tunis, between Esperance of Tunisia and Wydad Athletic Club of Morocco, the Court of Arbitration of Sport (CAS) has nullified the decision of CAF’s executive committee on June 5 in Paris, ordering a replay of the game.
By Paul Nicholson
July 31 – Musa Hassan Bility, the CAF executive committee member banned by FIFA less than 24 hours after filing a complaint to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), has written an Open Letter to the FIFA Council calling into question the governing body’s “weaponised” Ethics committee.
July 30 – Twenty eight African teams learned who their first opposition would be on the road to Qatar after the draw for the preliminary round of Africa’s qualifying campaign for the 2022 World Cup was held on Monday.
By Paul Nicholson
July 26 – FIFA waited more than five months before issuing the verdict banning Liberian Musa Bility from football activity and stripping him of his position on the executive committee of the Confederation of African Football (CAF). The ban was issued after Bility refused to support the FIFA intervention and two days after he said he was taking his complaint to CAS.
July 25 – The 16-member Council of Southern African Football Associations (Cosafa) has suspended Zimbabwe from participating in next year’s Cosafa Cup, the region’s biggest tournament, and slapped the Zimbabwe FA (ZIFA) with a $200,000 fine.
By Paul Nicholson
July 24 – Two days after announcing he would be taking the Confederation of African Football (CAF) to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), in order to stop FIFA’s direct intervention in CAF’s day-to-day affairs, Liberian Musa Hassan Bility has been banned for 10 years by FIFA’s Ethics Committee and fined CHF500,000.
July 24 – Kenya’s Nicholas Musonye is standing down secretary-general of the 12-member Council for East and Central Africa Football Associations (Cecafa) after two decades at the helm.
By Osasu Obayiuwana in Cairo, Egypt
July 22 – The crisis in African football governance appears to have taken a new turn, as an executive committee member of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) is taking the body, of which he is an important member, to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), in order to stop FIFA’s direct intervention in CAF’s day-to-day affairs.
By Osasu Obayiuwana in Cairo, Egypt
July 19 – The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has partially explained why it made a sudden change to the referee that will take charge of Friday’s final of the Africa Cup of Nations tournament.
By Paul Nicholson
July 17 – It has been a day of long and bloody knives at the Ordinary General Assembly of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) as president Ahmad worked behind the scenes to remove all opposition (perceived and real) from the key decision-making levels of his empire.
By Paul Nicholson
July 18 – With the Confederation of African Football (CAF) set to cede control of its affairs to FIFA and its ‘delegate for Africa, FIFA general secretary Fatma Samoura, a former FIFA employee and candidate for a CAF position on FIFA’s Council, Zelkifi R Ngoufonia (Zul), has written a hard hitting letter to FIFA president Gianni Infantino.
September 18 – FIFA President Gianni Infantino says the unprecedented move to send in his number two to clean up African football will “significantly improve” the sport on the continent.
July 18 – An early goal from Odion Ighalo gave Nigeria a 1-0 win over Tunisia in their third-place playoff at the Africa Cup of Nations.