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SOUTH African mining magnate Patrice Motsepe was re-elected unopposed as Confederation of African Football president at the organisation’s congress in Cairo, Egypt, yesterday, while four-time African Footballer of the Year Samuel Eto’o won a place on the executive committee.
The 63-year-old Motsepe, whose family trust owns one of the continent’s biggest clubs, Mamelodi Sundowns, will serve a second four-year term after being first elected in 2021 when his candidature was also unopposed and heavily backed by FIFA president Gianni Infantino.
The decision to re-elect Motsepe was confirmed at the 14th CAF Extraordinary General Assembly yesterday, extending his leadership of the organisation until 2029.
Motsepe’s re-election comes after a first term widely praised for stabilising CAF’s finances and boosting its global profile.
Under his leadership, the organisation set several new records at the TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations, Cote d’Ivoire 2023, attracting a record 1,4 billion viewers worldwide.
Prize money for major tournaments, including the TotalEnergies CAF Champions League and TotalEnergies CAF Women’s Africa Cup of Nations, has also increased significantly, alongside enhanced financial support for Member Associations.
Motsepe also faced no opposition after the nomination deadline passed in November 2024.
His decision to run again followed requests from member association presidents and key stakeholders.
“The goal remains making African football globally competitive, stabilising finances, and investing in infrastructure,” he said.
Motsepe’s unopposed re-election reflects both confidence in his leadership and the desire to see him elevate African football to new heights.
Motsepe, a mining magnate who also owns South African club Mamelodi Sundowns, had said he was looking to continue the “good progress” he had made since coming to office four years ago. Although Motsepe’s re-election was a formality, elections were held for positions on CAF’s executive committee, with Cameroonian football legend Eto’o winning a seat.
The continent’s representatives on the FIFA council were also voted during yesterday’s executive general assembly.
Motsepe’s second term in charge of African football was decided before yesterday’s events in Cairo after he became the first and only contender to run for office.
The lack of challengers could be seen as a vote of confidence in the South African’s presidency so far, having come to CAF at a time of crisis. In 2021 he succeeded Ahmad of Madagascar, who had become the first CAF president to be banned by FIFA.
Since then, the African football body has grown financially, making a US$72 million profit from last year’s Nations Cup — a sum 18 times bigger than that generated by the previous edition in 2022.
When declaring his intent to run for a second term, Motsepe told the BBC progress had been made, “but there is still a lot of work to be done.”
During his speech yesterday, he highlighted the issue of national stadiums across Africa as one of his key areas of focus.
“In 2021, there were 36 countries that were not playing football in their countries. The number has come down to 12, but for us, this is still a big number,” he said.
“At CAF and FIFA, it is our job to continue supporting the development of sports infrastructure.”
Meanwhile, Eto’o, president of the Cameroon Football Federation, was elected unopposed as a representative for the Central African region on the executive committee less than a week after winning an appeal to stand for the post.
He was excluded by CAF’s governance committee in January but appealed his case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which ruled in his favour.
Former World Cup footballer Eto’o had been banned twice last year.
In September, FIFA banned him from attending the national team’s matches for six months for violating disciplinary regulations after allegedly verbally abusing match officials at the Under-20 Women’s World Cup in Colombia.
Earlier in the year, CAF banned Eto’o after an inquiry into purported breaches of their ethical and integrity standards when he took up a role as ambassador for a betting company.
The ban and a US$200,000 fine were later lifted on appeal.
When Belgian Marc Brys was appointed national coach of the Cameroon men’s team last year, he clashed regularly with Eto’o.
Eto’o enjoyed a glittering career and is widely regarded as one of the greatest African footballers. He helped Cameroon win the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games football tournament and was part of the 2000 and 2002 Africa Cup of Nations-winning teams.
Eto’o featured at four World Cups and six AFCON tournaments and scored a record 18 goals in the African tournament.
There was also a vote to decide the six African representatives on the FIFA Council, with Hany Abo Rida of Egypt and Fouzi Lekjaa of Morocco retaining their places.
Kanizat Ibrahim (Comoros), Hamidou Djibrilla Hima (Niger), Ahmed Yahya (Mauritania), and Souleymane Waberi (Djibouti) were elected for the first time.
On CAF’s executive committee, five others were elected unopposed alongside Eto’o.
Mustapha Ishola Raji of Liberia retained his seat for another four years, while Bestine Kazadi Ditabala (Democratic Republic of Congo), Wallace Karia (Tanzania), Kurt Simeon-Okraku (Ghana), and Sadi Walid (Algeria) are new to the committee.
Elvis Chetty of the Seychelles lost his place when Feizal Sidat (Mozambique) and Samir Sobha of Mauritius were voted in to represent Southern Africa. — BBC Sport/SuperSport.com/Sports Reporter.
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