CAF’s Ahmad Ahmad’s ban reduced to two years

The Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) has reduced Ahmad Ahmad’s FIFA ban from five years to two years following his appeal on Monday.  

The CAF President has also be fined 50 000 Swiss francs. 

The news may not mean much for the Madagascan who had hoped to be completely cleared ahead of the upcoming CAF presidential elections on Friday. 

In October 2020, Ahmad announced that he would stand for CAF Presidency re-election. But with the two-year ban means that Ahmad still cannot run for re-election.  

His campaign was handed a devastating blow when FIFA handed him a five-year ban from all football-related activities (administrative, sports or any other) for financial misconduct. 

The FIFA Ethics Committee found that Ahmad had breached his duty of loyalty by offering and accepting gifts and other benefits, and misappropriation of funds. 

FIFA also fined him 200 000 Swiss francs ($200 000), which has now been reduced to 50 000 Swiss francs. 

This leaves South African businessman, Patrice Motsepe as the only presidential candidate, set to be elected unopposed on Friday. This after the three other candidate, Emmanuel Senghor, Jacques Anouma and Ahmed Yahya withdrew from the race last Friday. 

Under Ahmad, CAF decided to terminate a 12-year standing agreement with Lagardère after an evaluation of the federation’s marketing and sponsorships contracts in a bid to increase CAF’s revenue and to enable investment in the continent’s development football. This decision was deemed as “financially dangerous” for CAF by COMESA and criminal with regard to competition rules. 

Due to difficulties faced by CAF’s Executive Committee, Ahmad requested for a six-month partnership with FIFA in 2019, which was approved by FIFA President Gianni Infantino. This was so the international football body could audit CAF. 

CAF planned to use the results from the audit to present a new idea under the theme “Transform CAF 2021. 

While attending the FIFA Congress in Paris, France, Ahmad was questioned by the Central Office for the Fight against Corruption and Financial and Fiscal Infractions (OCLCIFF). 

This as CAF was suspected of favouring the company Tactical Steel to provide the federation with equipment for Chan 2018, breaking the deal CAF had with Puma to provide the equipment. – additional reporting by Thabang Nkgweng