Sports / Soccer
Hayatou, Chiyangwa showdown
28 Feb 2017 at 16:04hrs | Views
The ongoing dispute between CAF President Issa Hayatou and Zimbabwe Football Association (Zifa) boss Phillip Chiyangwa will be on the agenda at the CAF executive committee meeting in Addis Ababa on 16 March, Kwese.com report.
The two leaders have been bickering over Chiyangwa's decision to invite fellow heads of African football associations to Harare ostensibly for a belated birthday bash, which he claimed also doubled as a celebration of his ascendency to the Cosafa presidency.
Chiyangwa's position as the campaigner in chief for Madagascar's Ahmad Ahmad, who is challenging Hayatou for the CAF leadership, has further compounded matters.
The Harare businessman's party went ahead as planned last Friday - despite Hayatou's misgivings - and CAF secretary-general Hicham El Amrani has since advised that the saga is now up for discussion at the Addis Ababa gathering.
"For your information, this matter will be tabled on the agenda of the upcoming meeting of the CAF executive committee," reads part of the letter to Chiyangwa by El Amrani as published in several Zimbabwean newspapers.
Organisers of last Friday's event had initially expected at least 24 heads of associations to converge in Harare, but roughly half that figure eventually turned up amid claims that many had failed to secure visas on time.
Fifa president Gianni Infantino was the guest of honour at the party, a development which could have further irked Hayatou's camp.
Elections to decide Hayatou's fate are set to be held at the Ethiopia gathering, with Chiyangwa and like-minded football leaders from within the Cosafa region and beyond backing Ahmad for the top job.
Hayatou and Chiyangwa have been exchanging some rather unfriendly missives over the last two weeks, with the CAF supremo particularly unhappy that the newly elected Cosafa president had invited football leaders from outside his region for his party.
Chiyangwa has countered that he is within his rights to do so, arguing in one of his responses that "Cosafa is not obliged to seek prior approval from CAF before holding such friendly sessions and interactions with fellow presidents outside of its zone".
ALSO READ: CAF set to ditch controversial rule
Despite the reduced numbers at his party, the 58-year-old apparently remains optimistic that Ahmad will unseat the powerful Hayatou, who has been at the helm of African football since 1988.
In one of his videos uploaded to social media this week, Chiyangwa, joyfully moving his head to the sound of a local hit song, vows in Shona: "There on Hayatou, let's pass through, so that this person can go and go for good …"
Ahmad's candidacy has also received the unequivocal backing of Nigerian Football Federation president Amaju Melvin Pinnick, who has since claimed that the Madagascar national is already assured of 35 of the 54 votes available.
The two leaders have been bickering over Chiyangwa's decision to invite fellow heads of African football associations to Harare ostensibly for a belated birthday bash, which he claimed also doubled as a celebration of his ascendency to the Cosafa presidency.
Chiyangwa's position as the campaigner in chief for Madagascar's Ahmad Ahmad, who is challenging Hayatou for the CAF leadership, has further compounded matters.
The Harare businessman's party went ahead as planned last Friday - despite Hayatou's misgivings - and CAF secretary-general Hicham El Amrani has since advised that the saga is now up for discussion at the Addis Ababa gathering.
"For your information, this matter will be tabled on the agenda of the upcoming meeting of the CAF executive committee," reads part of the letter to Chiyangwa by El Amrani as published in several Zimbabwean newspapers.
Organisers of last Friday's event had initially expected at least 24 heads of associations to converge in Harare, but roughly half that figure eventually turned up amid claims that many had failed to secure visas on time.
Fifa president Gianni Infantino was the guest of honour at the party, a development which could have further irked Hayatou's camp.
Elections to decide Hayatou's fate are set to be held at the Ethiopia gathering, with Chiyangwa and like-minded football leaders from within the Cosafa region and beyond backing Ahmad for the top job.
Hayatou and Chiyangwa have been exchanging some rather unfriendly missives over the last two weeks, with the CAF supremo particularly unhappy that the newly elected Cosafa president had invited football leaders from outside his region for his party.
Chiyangwa has countered that he is within his rights to do so, arguing in one of his responses that "Cosafa is not obliged to seek prior approval from CAF before holding such friendly sessions and interactions with fellow presidents outside of its zone".
ALSO READ: CAF set to ditch controversial rule
Despite the reduced numbers at his party, the 58-year-old apparently remains optimistic that Ahmad will unseat the powerful Hayatou, who has been at the helm of African football since 1988.
In one of his videos uploaded to social media this week, Chiyangwa, joyfully moving his head to the sound of a local hit song, vows in Shona: "There on Hayatou, let's pass through, so that this person can go and go for good …"
Ahmad's candidacy has also received the unequivocal backing of Nigerian Football Federation president Amaju Melvin Pinnick, who has since claimed that the Madagascar national is already assured of 35 of the 54 votes available.
Source - kwese
