Motsepe re-elected as leader of African football

South African mining magnate Patrice Motsepe was re-elected unopposed as Confederation of African Football president at the organisation’s congress in Cairo on Wednesday 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.

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, who ruled in his favour.

Former World Cup footballer Eto’o had been twice banned 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 its ethical and integrity standards when he took up a role as ambassador for a betting company. The ban and a $200,000 fine were later lifted on appeal.

There were five others elected unopposed with Mustapha Ishola Raji of Liberia retaining his seat for another four years, while Bestine Kazadi Ditabala (female representative from the Democratic Republic of Congo), Wallace Karia (Tanzania), Kurt Simeon-Okraku (Ghana) and Sadi Walid (Algeria) are new to the committee.

Source: Reuters
--Agencies