Former CAF President, Issa Hayatou is dead
Former Confederation of African Football (CAF) President Issa Hayatou is dead.
Hayatou who was in charge of the continental football body for 29 years from 1988 to 2017 died a day to his 78th birthday after a protracted illness.
His death is coming nearly six months of his reported death which later turned out to be false.
Apart from being CAF President, he also served as acting FIFA president from 2015-2016 after Sepp Blatter was suspended by world football’s governing body.
Hayatou, whose brother was Prime Minister of Cameroon, was a lifelong sports administrator. He was an International Olympic Committee member from 2001-2016, after which he became an honorary member.
In 2011 Hayatou was disciplined by the IOC over his role in an alleged bribery scandal at FIFA.
He was issued with a reprimand after BBC Panorama claimed he received about $20,000 from the now defunct sports marketing company ISL in 1995. Hayatou denied any corruption and said the money was a gift for his confederation.
His tenure at the helm of African football saw the game on the continent record some noble achievements.
Hayatou challenged Blatter for the FIFA Presidency in 2002, but lost heavily as many African countries deserted him in the vote against the Swiss
