CAF exco nominates Hayatou as Honorary President, confirms tournament hosts

THE Confederation of African Football executive committee has controversially nominated its former President Issa Hayatou as Honorary President.

After its meeting on Thursday night, one of the major resolutions of the committee was to honour the 74-year-old Cameroonian whose long tenure was riddled with corruption allegations before he was voted out in 2017.

“The Executive Committee has decided to propose to the General Assembly of CAF to grant the status of Honorary President of CAF to Mr. Issa Hayatou, the renowned personality of African football for his work,” CAF published on its website on Thursday night.“

This distinguished leader presided over CAF for 30 years – from 1987 to 2017 – and this honour salutes his immense role in the development of African football.”

Hayatou’s successor Ahmad Ahmad is currently facing corruption charges and has been banned by world body FIFA from all football related activities.

The executive committee also resolved that upon inspection of the facilities, Cameroon is ready to host the 2021 African Nations Championship (CHAN) in January in three cities: Yaounde, Douala and Limbe.

The highest decision-making committee of CAF also commended Cote d’Ivoire for the ‘satisfactory’ job the country is doing towards hosting the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations and confirmed the host countries for continental tournaments until 2025 (2021 AFCON: Cameroon, 2023 AFCON: Cote d’Ivoire, 2025 AFCON: Guinea, CHAN 2020: Cameroon, CHAN 2022: Algeria, U-17 AFCON 2021: Morocco).

The executive committee also approved the take-off of the Women’s Champions League in 2021, which will be played on a zonal basis until the final tournament. 

The committee also approved the opening of host bidding applications for CAF competitions including the final of Total CAF Champions League 2021, 2022 and 2023; the Final of Total CAF Confederation Cup 2021, 2022 and 2023; and the 2021 Women’s Champions League.

The body also updated its club licencing guidelines, noting: “The criteria for licensing clubs are structured around five pillars: sporting, infrastructural, administrative and personnel, legal and financial.”