Patrice Motsepe is assured of a second term as the president of Confederation of African Football (CAF) after no other candidate submitted their candidature by the close of deadline.
The deadline for interested candidates to submit their nomination closed on Tuesday November 12 and by then, no one had expressed an interest in challenging Motsepe, who recently confirmed that he will seek reelection following pressure from various association heads and sponsors.
It means the South Africa billionaire will sail through unopposed at next year’s congress to begin a fresh four-year term after his first stint in office was marked with a positive impact.
CAF President Patrice Motsepe has announced his candidacy for a second term in the March 2025 elections.
Since he came into office in March 2021, there has been an increase in revenue as well as prize money in various competitions with the success of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations down to Motsepe’s policies.
CAF released healthy financial figures for the 2022/23 financial year during a recent meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia when it was also revealed that they reduced their losses from $28 million to $8.8 million in the previous year and is projecting a net profit of R205 million in the coming financial year, with revenues of over $1 billion targeted in the next eight years.
Egyptian FA President Hany Abou Rida was tipped to challenge Motsepe but he has turned his focus on a return to the FIFA Council, a position has held for the past 20 years, with Djibouti’s Souleiman Waberi fand Kanizat Ibrahim from Comoros, who are among CAF’s vice presidents, also going for the FIFA Council seat.
Patrice Motsepe faces a $195 million lawsuit in Tanzania where his companies are accused of breaching a mining non-compete agreement.
In the absence of Waberi and Ibrahim from the ballot next year, Motsepe will have new faces in his cabinet.