Four in race to succeed Ahmad Ahmad as CAF president

The candidacies of Mauritanian Ahmed Yahya and South African Patrice Motsepe for the presidency of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) were validated by Fifa on Wednesday.

The men join Senegal's Augustin Senghor and Ivorian Jacques Anouma for the vote scheduled for March 12 in Rabat.

The four candidates will be interviewed Thursday in Cairo, at the headquarters of CAF.

"I am pleased to announce the validation of my candidacy for the Presidency of CAF and Vice-President of Fifa by the Control Commission of Fifa," announced Ahmed Yahya on his Twitter account.

Fifa announced Tuesday to Patrice Motsepe that he was "declared eligible for the post of president of CAF and vice-president of Fifa" in a letter seen by AFP.

The outgoing president, Ahmad Ahmad, was suspended for five years by Fifa from all soccer activities on November 23. He cannot reappear, despite his appeal pending before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

Four candidates will therefore be able to compete on March 12.

Who are the candidates?

Augustin Emmanuel Senghor (lawyer, 55 years old), has been president of the Senegalese federation (FSF) for 11 years. He is also the mayor of Gorée, an island town adjacent to Dakar, capital of Senegal.

Jacques Anouma is the former president of the Ivorian football federation. He is credited engineering the rejuvenation of the "Elephants" who participated in their first World Cup in 2010 and 2014.

Ahmed Yahya (businessman, 44 years old), heads the Mauritanian Federation (FFRIM) since 2011. Under his presidency, the country participated in its first African Cup of Nations in 2019, under the leadership of coach Corentin Martins.

Patrice Tlhopan Motsepe (businessman, 58 years old), made his fortune from mining. He is the president of Mamelodi Sundowns, the Pretoria township club, winner of the African Champions League in 2016.

Each of the 54 African federations has one vote in a multi-round majority vote. One only needs a simple majority or about 28 votes to win.