Issa Hayatou (born 9 August 1946) is a Cameroonian sports executive, former athlete and football administrator best known for serving as the president of the
Confederation of African Football
The Confederation of African Football, or CAF for short (french: link=yes, Confédération Africaine de Football, ar, link=yes, الاتحاد الأفريقي لكرة القدم, al-Ittiḥād al-Afrīqī li-Kurat al-Qadam), is the administ ...
(CAF) between 1988 and 2017. He served as the acting
FIFA
FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...
president until 26 February 2016 as previous president
Sepp Blatter was banned from all football-related activities in 2015 as a part of the
that year's FIFA corruption investigation. In 2002, he ran for president of FIFA but was defeated by Blatter. He is also a member of the
International Olympic Committee
The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swiss ...
(IOC).
In November 2010 he was alleged by the BBC to have taken bribes in the 1990s regarding the awarding of World Cup television rights. The IOC has announced it will investigate him.
[Owen Gibson (30 November 2010]
"England's 2018 hopes rise as Vladimir Putin hints he will not turn up"
''The Guardian'' Following the 2015 FIFA corruption case, Hayatou took charge of FIFA, as the acting president, until 26 February 2016 when Gianni Infantino was elected to the position. On 16 March 2017, he was defeated by Malagasy challenger
Ahmad Ahmad
Ahmad Ahmad (born 30 December 1959) is a Malagasy politician and football leader.
He was the President of the Confederation of African Football, and vice-president of FIFA from 2017 to 2021.
Biography
Ahmad Ahmad was born in Madagascar ...
, ending Hayatou's 29-year reign as the CAF President. On 24 May 2017, he was appointed President of the National Football Academy by the president of Cameroon,
Paul Biya
Paul Biya (born Paul Barthélemy Biya'a bi Mvondo; 13 February 1933) is a Cameroonian politician who has served as the president of Cameroon since 6 November 1982. .
Life and career
Hayatou was born in
Garoua
Garoua or Garua (Fula: Garwa 𞤺𞤢𞤪𞤱𞤢) is a port city and the capital of the North Region of Cameroon, lying on the Benue River. A thriving centre of the textiles and cotton industries, the city has approximately 1,285,000 inhabita ...
,
Cameroon
Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the C ...
on 9 August 1946, the son of a local Sultan, and became a
middle distance runner
Middle-distance running events are track races longer than sprints, up to 3000 metres. The standard middle distances are the 800 metres, 1500 metres and mile run, although the 3000 metres may also be classified as a middle-distance event. The 15 ...
and physical education teacher. Hayatou had a successful career as an athlete, becoming a member of the Cameroonian national squads in both Basketball and Athletics, and holding national record times in the 400 and 800-meter running.
He is married with four children. The Hayatou family are traditional holders of the sultanate (''Lamidat'', from the
Sokoto Caliphate
The Sokoto Caliphate (), also known as the Fulani Empire or the Sultanate of Sokoto, was a Sunni Muslim caliphate in West Africa. It was founded by Usman dan Fodio in 1804 during the Fulani jihads after defeating the Hausa Kingdoms in the Ful ...
's traditional
Fula
Fula may refer to:
*Fula people (or Fulani, Fulɓe)
*Fula language (or Pulaar, Fulfulde, Fulani)
**The Fula variety known as the Pulaar language
**The Fula variety known as the Pular language
**The Fula variety known as Maasina Fulfulde
*Al-Fula ...
title ''Lamine'') of Garoua. Hayatou was son of the reigning sultan, and many relatives have acceded to powerful positions in Cameroonian society. Most notable is Issa's brother
Sadou Hayatou
Sadou Hayatou (15 February 1942 – 1 August 2019) was a Cameroonian politician. Hayatou served as the 4th Prime Minister of Cameroon from 26 April 1991 to 9 April 1992.
Biography
Hayatou was born in Garoua.
His brother, Issa Hayatou, was for a ...
, a former
Prime Minister of Cameroon
Under the current Constitution of Cameroon, the Prime Minister of Cameroon is a relatively powerless position. While the Prime Minister is officially appointed to be the head of government, the President retains most of the executive power and c ...
and longtime high official under Cameroon president
Paul Biya
Paul Biya (born Paul Barthélemy Biya'a bi Mvondo; 13 February 1933) is a Cameroonian politician who has served as the president of Cameroon since 6 November 1982. , who was among those tapped to succeed him. The Hayatou family continue to wield much political influence in northern Cameroon.
In 1974, aged just 28, he became Secretary General of the
Cameroonian Football Federation, and Chair of the FA in 1986. As chair, he was chosen the same year to sit on the CAF Executive Committee. Following the retirement of Ethiopia's
Ydnekatchew Tessema
Yidnekatchew Tessema ( Amharic: ይድነቃቸው ተሠማ; 11 September 1921 – 19 August 1987) was a footballer in Ethiopia.
Soccer career
He played for his school for five years, for the first Ethiopian soccer team, the St. George Cl ...
from the CAF presidency in August 1987, Hayatou was elected as the fifth president in the body's history.
[Hayatou's actions in developing African football]
Tiego Tiemtore. PANA Press. 2006. He lost his seventh re-election campaign to
Ahmad Ahmad
Ahmad Ahmad (born 30 December 1959) is a Malagasy politician and football leader.
He was the President of the Confederation of African Football, and vice-president of FIFA from 2017 to 2021.
Biography
Ahmad Ahmad was born in Madagascar ...
in March 2017.
Growth of the CAF
President of CAF for almost three decades, Hayatou has overseen particularly successful
FIFA World Cup
The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...
appearances by Senegal, Nigeria, and Cameroon, and pushed for African places in the finals to increase from two to five, with the
2010 World Cup in South Africa seeing the hosts garner an automatic sixth spot for an African team. Mr. Hayatou has presided over both the bid and the organising committee for the 2010 games, the first in Africa. The African Cup of Nations finals expanded from 8 to 16 teams, in a confederation of over 50 nations in six zones and five regional confederations. Club competitions have undergone a similar growth in both numbers and scale, with more clubs participating in the African Cup of Champions Clubs, the CAF Confederation Cup (begun in 2004 for national cup winners and high-placed league teams), the CAF Cup, and the CAF Super Cup. There has also been an expansion outside men's football, with the CAF overseeing Youth, Women's, Fustal, and Beach soccer competitions.
Relations with UEFA and FIFA
One of the major aims of Hayatou's presidency in the late 1990s was to provide incentives to African football clubs which would stem the flow of African players to Europe; an initiative which met with little success. Hayatou has couched some criticism of the uneven flow of football 'resources' in colonial terms, saying that "rich countries import the raw material – talent – and often send their less valuable technicians", an implied criticism of foreign coaching staffs that employed by most African national sides. A September 1997 initiative negotiated by Hayatou with
UEFA
Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs f ...
saw the payment of fees to African governing bodies and clubs for African-born players working in Europe. This was followed by the Meridian Project signed in December 1997 with UEFA, which was to provide cash payments to African National Associations every other year, and created the
UEFA–CAF Meridian Cup
The UEFA–CAF Meridian Cup was a football tournament that featured national teams from Europe and Africa among players under 18, and was part of the co-operation programme between UEFA and the CAF.
Meridian Project
The UEFA–CAF Meridian Cup ...
. The 1999 Goal Project created with FIFA gives 46 African FAs financial support worth one million dollars over four years.
These negotiations, regardless of their impact on African club football, forged a close relationship between UEFA leaders and Hayatou, and led to UEFA's backing of Hayatou's nomination to replace
Sepp Blatter as head of FIFA in 2002. Blatter, supported by the American and Asian confederations, defeated Hayatou by 139 votes to 56.
Corruption allegations
In November 2010
Andrew Jennings
Andrew Jennings (3 September 1943 – 8 January 2022) was a British investigative reporter. He was best known for his work investigating and writing about corruption in the IOC and FIFA.
Early life
Jennings was born in Kirkcaldy, Scotland, ...
, the presenter of
FIFA's Dirty Secrets
"FIFA's Dirty Secrets" is an episode of the BBC documentary series ''Panorama'' which was broadcast on 29 November 2010.
Overview
The half-hour programme saw investigative journalist Andrew Jennings look into allegations of corruption with FIFA ...
, an edition of
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
alleged that Hayatou had taken bribes in the 1990s regarding the awarding of contracts for the sale of television rights to the football
.
Panorama claimed to have obtained a document from a company called ISL which showed that Hayatou was paid 100,000
by the company. ISL won the contract to distribute the television rights.