14th CAF EGA: Nigeria’s Amaju Pinnick favoured to retain FIFA Council seat

Posted : 11 March 2025

Nigeria’s Amaju Melvin Pinnick is highly favored to retain his seat as a member of the 37-person FIFA Council, the supreme governing body for world football, when elections are conducted at the 14th Extraordinary General Assembly of the Confederation of African Football in Cairo, Egypt, on Wednesday.

The accomplished football administrator is at the forefront of the race, alongside Moroccan Fouzi Lekjaa and Egyptian Hany Abou Rida, with 10 candidates competing for the available five seats when the poll is held inside the Marriott Mena House on Wednesday morning.

Africa has seven seats on the FIFA Council, with the sitting CAF President’s position guaranteed. One of the seven seats is reserved for a woman, and here, CAF’s sitting 5th vice president, Kanizat Ibrahim from the Comoros Islands, will compete with sitting member Isha Johansen from Sierra Leone.

The contest for the FIFA Council seats is expected to be the fiercest ever, with Ivorian Yacine Idriss Diallo, Senegal’s Augustin Senghor, Niger Republic’s Djibrilla ‘Pele’ Hima Hamidou, Zambia’s Andrew Kamanga, Mauritanian Ahmed Yahya, Benin Republic’s Mathurin De Chacus, and Djibouti’s Souleman Hassan Waberi also in the poll.

CAF President Patrice Motsepe, who is unchallenged for a second term at African football’s helm, retains his seat effortlessly but will closely watch as only half of the contestants, all strong and skilled politicians, make it to the esteemed FIFA Council.

Each of the 54 Member Associations will have the opportunity to vote for five male candidates and one of the two women. The President of the NFF, Alhaji Ibrahim Musa Gusau, who will vote on behalf of Nigeria, arrived in Cairo on Sunday, accompanied by the General Secretary, Dr. Mohammed Sanusi.

The Government of Nigeria, which publicly endorsed Pinnick’s candidacy through the Presidency in July 2024, is strongly represented, with Chairman of the National Sports Commission, Alhaji Shehu Dikko, and Director-General, Hon. Bukola Olopade, present.

There were indications on Tuesday morning that Mauritania’s Yahya might also succeed in the contest at the extraordinary general assembly, which begins at 9 a.m. Nigeria time.

Unlike the FIFA Council elections, the race for seats in the CAF Executive Committee has been weakened by zonal arrangements that have seen single candidates emerge in most zones, except for the Southern African region, where intense competition is expected.

South African mining billionaire Motsepe comes from the COSAFA region, where four candidates—Elvis Chetty (Seychelles), Alfred Randriamanampisoa (Madagascar), Mohamed Ally Samir (Mauritius), and Feizal Ismael Sidat (Mozambique)—are vying for two seats.

Elsewhere, Cameroonian legend Samuel Eto’o Fils, who needed the intervention of the Court of Arbitration for Sport to be reinstated on the ballot, is the sole candidate for the UNIFFAC (Central Africa) region, as Mustapha Ishola Raji (Liberia) is for the WAFU A zone; Kurt Edwin-Simeon Okraku for the WAFU B zone; and Algeria’s Sadhi Walid for the UNAF (North Africa) zone.

The only female seat is also uncontested, with Congolese Bestine Kazadi as the only candidate on the ballot.

FIFA Council Poll: Amaju Pinnick (Nigeria); Fouzi Lekjaa (Morocco); Hany Abou Rida (Egypt); Ahmed Yahya (Mauritania); Yacine Idriss Diallo (Côte d’Ivoire); Augustin Senghor (Senegal); Djibrilla ‘Pele’ Hima Hamidou (Niger Republic); Andrew Kamanga (Zambia); Mathurin De Chacus (Benin Republic); and Souleman Hassan Waberi (Djibouti).

Female Seat: Kanizat Ibrahim (Comoros); Isha Johansen (Sierra Leone)

CAF Exco Poll: Samuel Eto’o (UNIFFAC, unchallenged); Sadhi Walid (UNAF, unchallenged); Mustapha Ishola Raji (WAFU A, unchallenged); Kurt Edwin-Simeon Okraku (WAFU B, unchallenged); Elvis Chetty (COSAFA); Alfred Randriamanampisoa (COSAFA); Mohamed Ally Samir (COSAFA); and Feizal Ismael Sidat (COSAFA)

Female Seat: Bestine Kazadi (DR Congo)

14th CAF EGA: Nigeria’s Amaju Pinnick favoured to retain FIFA Council seat

ADD A COMMENT :

Hot Topics