End of game for Ahmad Ahmad. The Malagasy leader, suspended on November 23 by FIFA for a period of 5 years, will not be able to run for a second term as president of the Confederation of African Football (CAF). The governance commission of the continental body rejected his candidacy, considering that the outgoing president was ineligible. But Ahmad Ahmad does not seem to want to give up. He appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) on December 14 against the sanction imposed by FIFA. The Lausanne-based court received FIFA's arguments on January 6 and should render its decision no later than January 11. In the event that the CAS decision is favorable to him, his lawyers would ask the CAF governance commission to re-examine his case and, possibly, to hear him. In the probable absence of Ahmad Ahmad, the race for the presidency of CAF promises to be very uncertain. The governance commission of the African body has already validated the candidacies of Augustin Senghor, the president of the Senegalese Football Federation (FSF), and Jacques Anouma, the former president of the Ivorian Football Federation (FIF). The candidacies of South African billionaire Patrice Motsepe and Ahmad Ould Yahya, head of the Mauritanian Football Federation, have not yet been fully validated. They are currently the subject of additional verifications. The two men will be interviewed on January 28 in Cairo. The election for the presidency of CAF is normally scheduled to take place on March 12, 2021 in Rabat, Morocco.
