Hayatou Re-Elected CAF President
Jan 22, 2004
TUNIS - Issa Hayatou swept back into power with a landslide win in the Confederation of African Football presidential elections on Thursday, beating his Botswanan opponent Ismail Bhamjee by 46 votes to six.
TUNIS - Issa Hayatou swept back into power with a landslide win in the Confederation of African Football presidential elections on Thursday, beating his Botswanan opponent Ismail Bhamjee by 46 votes to six.
The four-year mandate for the 59-year-old Cameroonian will extend his leadership of African football until 2008, giving him 20 years in the top job.
“I can reassure you I am here to again serve African football," Hayatou said in his victory speech. “CAF should remain what it is, an African organisation run by Africans,†he said in an apparent reference to his opponent's Indian ancestry.
South Africa-born Bhamjee, the former president of the Botswana Football Association, had earlier called for an end to cliques and racism in the organisation in a last-minute appeal to the 52-member congress.
Tunisia's Slim Chiboub won a seat on the FIFA executive committee as one of Africa's four representatives in a boost for his own country's World Cup ambitions. He will be one of the 24 committee members who will decide the host nation for the 2010 World Cup on May 15.
Former African Footballer of the Year Abedi Pele of Ghana, seeking to become the first high-profile player to win a place on the committee, was beaten 32-20 in his bid to unseat Amos Adamu of Nigeria.
Reuter
The four-year mandate for the 59-year-old Cameroonian will extend his leadership of African football until 2008, giving him 20 years in the top job.
“I can reassure you I am here to again serve African football," Hayatou said in his victory speech. “CAF should remain what it is, an African organisation run by Africans,†he said in an apparent reference to his opponent's Indian ancestry.
South Africa-born Bhamjee, the former president of the Botswana Football Association, had earlier called for an end to cliques and racism in the organisation in a last-minute appeal to the 52-member congress.
Tunisia's Slim Chiboub won a seat on the FIFA executive committee as one of Africa's four representatives in a boost for his own country's World Cup ambitions. He will be one of the 24 committee members who will decide the host nation for the 2010 World Cup on May 15.
Former African Footballer of the Year Abedi Pele of Ghana, seeking to become the first high-profile player to win a place on the committee, was beaten 32-20 in his bid to unseat Amos Adamu of Nigeria.
Reuter