President of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) Ahmad has been banned for five years by FIFA for breaching various codes of ethics. The ban effectively rules him out of the March 2021 CAF Presidential election. He thus becomes the first one-term president in modern time and the first to be sanctioned.
His impending ban had been announced earlier this month by Sports Village Square
The 60-year-old, also a vice-president of world governing body FIFA, has been found to have breached codes relating to duty of loyalty, offering and accepting gifts, abuse of position and misappropriation of funds.
“The investigation into Mr Ahmad’s conduct … from 2017 to 2019 concerned various CAF-related governance issues, including the organisation and financing of an Umrah pilgrimage to Mecca, his involvement in CAF’s dealing with the sports equipment company Tactical Steel and other activities,” a FIFA statement read.
He can appeal his sanction at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas) once he has received the full grounds for the decision, a process that can take up to 60 days.
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This is now in major doubt as Mr Ahmad, who was elected CAF president in 2017, would have to pass an eligibility test to resume his place on the FIFA Council.
Any chances of re-election will be dependent on not only winning his appeal at CAS but also ensuring said appeal is heard early enough to allow him to be confirmed as a candidate.
Ahmad recently stepped back from leading CAF, stating that he had done so for ‘medical reasons’ as he continues to recover from coronavirus, so leaving CAF’s first vice-president Constant Omari in charge of leading the organisation.
