Banned by FIFA in November for financial wrongdoing and abusing his position as the president of the Confederation of African Football (CAF), Madagascar’s Ahmad Ahmad was reinstated as the head of African soccer on Friday during a presidential election campaign pending his urgent appeal at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

The CAS said it granted Ahmad an interim ruling to freeze his five-year ban by FIFA ahead of an appeal hearing on March 2 and also promised a verdict the CAF elections on March 12 in Rabat, Morocco.

A Complex Legal Matter in Football

The court said there was a “risk of irreparable harm for Mr Ahmad” if he remained banned from leading the Cairo-based African soccer body while awaiting an appeal during the election campaign.

Ruling in Ahmad’s favour, the judges “emphasized that such a temporary decision does not prejudge in any way the decision it will take after analysing the merits of the case.”

Still, it was unclear whether Ahmad — a former minister in Madagascar’s government — could be recognised as a candidate in the weeks ahead.

Ahmad was barred this week from the election in a mandatory review by a FIFA review panel of each would-be candidate’s integrity and eligibility.

In a second decision on Friday, CAS rejected the soccer official’s request for a separate interim ruling and, instead, upheld FIFA’s right to make decisions about the African elections that were “aimed at preventing Mr Ahmad from participating.”

Background and Context

Ahmad was banned in November when FIFA ethics judges found he “breached his duty of loyalty, offered gifts and other benefits, mismanaged funds, and abused his position as the CAF president.”

He was elected in 2017 and was seeking a second four-year term leading African soccer as a FIFA vice president.

FIFA integrity checks were passed this week by four presidential candidates: Jacques Anouma of Ivory Coast, Patrice Motsepe of South Africa, Augustin Senghor of Senegal, and Ahmed Yaya of Mauritania.

By Ewang Miriam Metchane

Uganda drew 1-1 with host country Cameroon in a fiery African Nations Championship (CHAN) warm-up match despite having a player sent off after only 12 minutes.

Ben Ocen was shown a straight red card following his reckless challenge on Alfred Meyong at Stade Ahmadou Ahidjo, the 42,500-capacity national stadium in Yaounde.

Cameroon went ahead through Banga Bindjelme just a minute after Uganda were reduced to 10 men, but Milton Karisa levelled on 70 minutes and the home side had Basile Yamkam red-carded in the final minute.

Cameroon will face Niger and Zambia in other friendly matches as the central African nation prepares to host a major Confederation of African Football (CAF) male tournament for the first time since 1972.

The Nations Championship kicks off on January 16 in Yaounde with a Group A clash between Cameroon and Zimbabwe, and Burkina Faso and Mali meet later in the second half of a double-header.

Group winners and runners-up advance to the quarter-finals of a tournament reserved for footballers playing in their country of birth.

Source: France 24

Malagasy Ahmad was a hot favourites to secure a second term as CAF president until FIFA barred him from all football activities for five years.

A FIFA statement said the 60 year old had “breached his duty of loyalty, offered gifts and other benefits, mismanaged funds and abused his position as the CAF president”.

With Ahmad sidelined, Ivorian Jacques Anouma, Mauritanian Ahmed Yahya, Senegalese Augustin Senghor and South African Patrice Motsepe will contest the election in Rabat on March 12.

Source: France 24

Hayatou spent 29 years running the Confederation of African Football and will be granted the status of honorary president of the Confederation of African Football (Caf) next month at a special ceremony in his home nation Cameroon.

Hayatou is the longest-serving ruler in Caf’s history, having led the African football body from 1988 to 2017.

The 74-year-old was made an honorary vice-president of Fifa after losing the elections three years ago, and now Caf is following suit.

“This distinguished leader presided over Caf for 30 years… and this honour salutes his immense role in the development of African football,” Caf said in a statement.

The decision to make Hayatou an honorary president was a proposal by the Executive Committee (ExCo) which the General Assembly approved yesterday.

The ceremony, which originally would have taken place in early 2020 but was postponed due to coronavirus, will take place in Yaounde on January 15, – a day before the African Nations Championship (Chan) kicks off in Cameroon.

Source: Thisday

Gambia was fined $100,000 for the unsporting reception accorded to the visiting Gabonese national team in November.

Gabon were in the west African country for a 2021 African Cup of Nations qualifier.

In its ruling published on Tuesday, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) chided the hosts for non-compliance “with the loyalty, Integrity and sportsmanship values and rules of Fair Play”.

“The Disciplinary Board decided to impose upon the Gambian federation a fine of 100.000 USD (One Hundred Thousand US Dollars) of which 50.000 USD (Fifty Thousand US Dollars) are suspended on the condition that the federation is not found guilty of a similar offense within a period of twenty-four (24) months”, read part of the ruling.

The Gabon delegation were told they were not allowed to leave the airport because of an administrative problem and were forced to sleep on the floor before being allowed to leave in the morning after government intervention.

The incident garnered global attention after Arsenal captain and Gabon international Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang tweeted about it.

Gabon lost the tie 2-1.

Gambia and Gabon are in drawn in Group D along with Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

CAF also fined the Gabonese football federation $10,000 for ‘offensive and degrading material that undermines the honor and image of the Confederation of African Football’ published by Aubameyang.

Source: Africa News