On March 16, at the Africa Union (AU) headquarters in Ethiopia, the Confederation of African Football (CAF), the governing body of the African Cup of Nations, elected a new president.  The new CAF leader is Madagascar’s Vice-President of the Senate, Ahmad Ahmad.  Ahmad, 57, was also the leader of the Madagascar Football Federation.  He defeated longtime CAF President, Issa Hayatou of Cameroon.

“Hayatou was seeking a record eight straight terms in office. The Cameroonian was first elected to head the largest member of FIFA, the world’s football governing body, in March 1988.” according to the Nigerian Vanguard newspaper.

Meanwhile, The Economist magazine says the process leading to Ahmad’s election “reads like the history of many African nations since independence 60-odd years ago.” Describing Hayatou’s defeat as a shock and saying this was “only the third time” he had been challenged, the magazine says about Hayatou’s defeat:

“He had clung to power for almost three decades. This is nearly as long as Paul Biya, a friend of the Hayatou family and Cameroon’s president, who has been in charge since 1982. CAF has had five presidents since it was established in 1957, the same number as Ivory Coast, one of the continent’s footballing powerhouses, over the same period.”