Confederation of African Football (CAF) will have a new president after incumbent Issa Hayatou has been defeated in the election held on Thursday.
Hayatou has lost the seat he held for the last 29 years to Madagascar’s Football Association boss, Ahmad Ahmad during the CAF Congress in Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa.
Ahmad Ahmad garnered a total of 34 votes while Hayatou managed just 20 votes amidst jubilation from majority of the CAF Congress members.
The result means Hayatou who has been at the helm for 7 terms loses the prestigious seat and Ahmad will become the 7th CAF President in the Confederation’s 60 years of existence.
Hayatou assumed power in 1988 replacing Abdel Halim Muhammad and has only been contested on two occasions which he won with landslide victory.
In 2004, Hayatou defeated Angola’s Armando Machado 47-4 while he went ahead to ease past Botswana’s Ismael Bhanjiel winning 46-6.
The Congress was treated to shock when Hayatou stormed out of the room as his challenger stood up to address the gathering.
In his speech before the elections, Ahmad said he wanted to develop the code of ethics.
“My first commitment, if I’m elected as President is the development of a code of ethics,” he said.
In the same Congress, Zanzibar was unanimously approved as the 55th member association of CAF.
Former CAF Presidents
Abdel Aziz Abdallah Salem (1957-1958)
Abdel Aziz Moustafa (1958-1968)
Abdel Halim Muhammad (1968-1972)
Yidnekatchew Tessema (1972-1987)
Abdel Halim Muhammad (1987-1988)
Issa Hayatou (1988-present)