Motsepe is re-elected unopposed as Caf president

Patrice Motsepe has been re-elected unopposed as Confederation of African Football (Caf) president for a second term in office.

The 63-year-old South African, who has been Caf president since 2021, announced his decision to stand again in October 2024.

His re-election for another four-year reign was confirmed at the Caf extraordinary general assembly in Cairo on Wednesday where Fifa president Gianni Infantino was in attendance.

Motsepe, a mining magnate who also owns South African club Mamelodi Sundowns, had said he was looking to continue the “good progress” he had made since coming to office four years ago.

Although Motsepe’s re-election was a formality, elections were held for positions on Caf’s executive committee with Cameroonian football legend Samuel Eto’o winning a seat.

The continent’s representatives on the Fifa council were also voted in during Wednesday’s executive general assembly.

Motsepe’s second term in charge of African football was decided before Wednesday’s events in Cairo after he became the first and only contender to run for office.

The lack of challengers could be seen as a vote of confidence in the South African’s presidency so far, having come to Caf at a time of crisis.

In 2021 he succeeded Ahmad of Madagascar who had become the first Caf president to be banned by Fifa.

Since then, the African football body has grown financially, making a $72m (£55.5m) profit from last year’s Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) – a sum 18 times bigger than that generated by the previous edition in 2022.

When declaring his intent to run for a second term, Motsepe told the BBC progress had been made, “but there is still a lot of work to be done”.

During his speech on Wednesday, he highlighted the issue of national stadiums across Africa as one of his key areas of focus.

“In 2021, there were 36 countries that were not playing football in their countries. The number has come down to 12 but for us, this is still a big number,” he said.

“At Caf and Fifa, it is our job to continue supporting the development of sports infrastructure.”

The election of four-time African Footballer of the Year Samuel Eto’o on to Caf’s decision-making executive committee was among the big talking points from Wednesday’s events in Cairo.

Eto’o, president of the Cameroon Football Federation (Fecafoot), was elected unopposed as he was the only candidate from the central Africa region.

Last week, the Court of Arbitration for Sport upheld an appeal by Eto’o, external who won the right to be included on the list of candidates after initially being ruled out of the contest by Caf’s governance committee in January.

The 44-year-old former Cameroon striker was suspended last year by both Fifa and Caf for violating disciplinary regulations.

Caf had banned him 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.

Eto’o was greeted warmly by delegates around him when his name was announced along with the five other elected members on Caf’s executive committee.

The former Barcelona and Inter Milan striker has been in charge of Fecafoot since December 2021 but has seen his tenure mired in controversy.

Last September he received a six-match ban from attending Cameroon games while one former international team-mate described him as a “dictator” for his handling of the appointment of Indomitable Lions head coach Marc Brys.

Other appointments

There was also a vote to decide the six African representatives on the Fifa Council with Hany Abo Rida of Egypt and Fouzi Lekjaa of Morocco retaining their places.

Kanizat Ibrahim (Comoros), Hamidou Djibrilla Hima (Niger), Ahmed Yahya (Mauritania) and Souleymane Waberi (Djibouti) were elected for the first time.

On Caf’s executive committee, five others were elected unopposed alongside Samuel Eto’o.

Mustapha Ishola Raji of Liberia retained his seat for another four years, while Bestine Kazadi Ditabala (Democratic Republic of Congo), Wallace Karia (Tanzania), Kurt Simeon-Okraku (Ghana) and Sadi Walid (Algeria) are new to the committee.

Elvis Chetty of the Seychelles lost his place when Feizal Sidat (Mozambique) and Samir Sobha of Mauritius were voted in to represent southern Africa.