The South African Patrice Motsepe, the only candidate in the running, was appointed president of the African Football Confederation (CAF) on Friday during the organization’s 43rd general assembly in Rabat.
“It’s a huge honor for me,” said the 59-year-old businessman, who had been dubbed by Fifa, praising the “unity” of the organization.
The president of Mamelodi Sundowns thus succeeds the Malagasy Ahmad Ahmad, suspended from his functions in the summer of 2019, before the end of his mandate for several ethical violations, including the “distribution of gifts” and “embezzlement”.
Motsepe, a self-made man hitherto relatively unknown to the sports world, acted as an outsider until his three rivals, the Senegalese Augustin Senghor, the Mauritanian Ahmed Yahya and the Ivorian Jacques Anouma, rallied to his candidacy a few days before the vote.
The three obtained in return the guarantee of posts, respectively, of first and second vice-presidents and adviser to the future president, with a “common program”.
“You all have the same vision today, it is the celebration of this unity,” said FIFA President Gianni Infantino at the opening of the debates in a hotel in Rabat.
“Together we win (…) Football is a team sport, the most important value of football is team spirit”, he said in response to the movement of grumbling raised by what some see as FIFA interventionism.
Already for six months, in the second half of 2019, the placing under supervision of CAF, with the presence at the headquarters in Cairo of the Secretary General of FIFA, the Senegalese Fatma Samoura, had bristled many members of the Confederation.