CAF President Says He Will Run For Second Term

The Confederation of African Football (CAF) president Ahmad Ahmad said on Wednesday he will run for a second term next March.

Odds-on favourite in the contest, Mr Ahmad made his widely expected announcement on his official Twitter handle, a few days after 46 out of 54 member associations called on the Madagascar football administrator to submit his candidacy before the 12 November deadline.

“The @CAF_Online knew a lot of improvements for 4 years. I’m proud of my team’s achievements. I extend my thanks and gratitude for your support and assistance in the #football in #Africa and beyond. After reflection and consultation process, I decided to stand for re-election,” he tweeted.

Ahmad, a former Malagasy cabinet minister, came to power in February 2017 after toppling Cameroonian Issa Hayoutou.

The 60-year-old administrator defeated Hayatou who led CAF for 29 years by 34 votes to 20, and his tenure is set to expire in 2021

However, his administration has been rocked with corruption scandals which at one point forced FIFA to hand over the mandate to manage football on the continent to FIFA Secretary General Fatma Samoura.

In June this year, Ahmad was arrested by French officials where he was questioned as part of a probe into corruption, breach of trust and forgery.

Ahmad was again on the spotlight when CAF revoked the African Champions League win by Esperance de Tunis amidst controversy over the Video Assistant Referee (VAR).

He was also heavily criticized for the manner in which CAF handled the hosting rights for the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations, which were stripped from Cameroon last year and awarded to Egypt.