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CAF Against Postponement Of FIFA Presidential Elections

CAF Against Postponement Of FIFA Presidential Elections

The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has made its position on the upcoming FIFA presidential elections clear, wishing for Friday’s voting to continue as scheduled, rather than being postponed.

The reason for potential postponement is the arrest of 14 FIFA officials and marketing executives this week, as a result of a criminal investigation by US authorities on the basis of corruption charges worth an alleged $150million.

European football governing body UEFA have called for the May 29 presidential elections to be postponed due to the internal turmoil caused by this recent situation, but Africa’s equivalent has gone on record that it wishes the elections to continue as planned.

In a statement from CAF, the African football governing body stated: “The Confédération Africaine de Football (CAF) opposes any postponement of the 65th FIFA Congress and the election for the presidency scheduled for 29 May 2015 in Zurich.”

The statement, which was made available to the media added, “At the confederation meeting held on Wednesday, 27 May 2015 in Zurich, CAF reiterated its support for the candidacy of incumbent Joseph Sepp Blatter during the election. It should be noted that CAF is following with particular attention the events happening in the football family at this time.”

“CAF reaffirms its commitment to work and to cooperate in safeguarding the ethical and moral values ​​that underlie the practice of the sport, its organization and administration; hence our full support to the measures initiated by FIFA in recent years in improving good governance,” the statement read.

“CAF reaffirms its readiness to cooperate in this direction with all the institutions that engage and subscribes to zero tolerance vis-a-vis offenders regardless of their profile or origin,” concluded the official CAF statement.

CAF president Issa Hayatou is a staunch supporter of current FIFA president Sepp Blatter, and many of the African associations will be backing the Swiss for yet another term in office, with the only other candidate remaining being Prince Ali bin al-Hussein of Jordan.