Caf clears Ahmad for presidential elections

The Confederation of African Football president Ahmad Ahmad has been cleared to contest the body’s elections, scheduled for March 12.

The Malagasy official was handed a five-year ban and fined $200,000 by Fifa in November for breaching its code of conduct.

Among the allegations levelled against the 61-year-old were offering and accepting gifts, abuse of office and misappropriation of funds, which he has denied.

Ahmad subsequently appealed the decision of the world governing body at the Court of Arbitration for Sport and got a temporary respite last month.

Cas restored the Malagasy to his post as president of Caf and explained a final decision will be taken before the Caf elections.

Following the ruling, Caf’s Governance Committee met to deliberate on the matter and cleared Ahmad to contest the presidential elections.

“The decision rendered on November 19, 2020, by the judging Chamber of the Ethics Commission of the Fifa, prohibiting Mr Ahmad Ahmad from exercising any activity related to football at the national and international level for five years, having been suspended by decision of January 29, 2021, of the Cas, the candidate Ahmad Ahmad is now declared eligible for the post of president of Caf,” read a statement from Caf’s Governance Committee.

Fifa is yet to respond to the Cas ruling and the 61-year-old will hope for a favourable decision from when they give their final verdict on the matter.

Already, the committee has cleared Jacques Anouma (Ivory Coast), Patrice Motsepe (South Africa), Augustin Senghor (Senegal) and Ahmed Yahya (Mauritania) for the elections.

Ahmad secured a landmark victory in the 2017 elections in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to emerge as the Caf president, defeating Issa Hayatou, who had been in the position since 1988.

The Malagasy has overseen the organisation of a number of competitions since becoming the president including the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt.