Governing Bodies
FIVE OBSTACLES IN PINNICK’S PATH TO FIFA COUNCIL
BY KUNLE SOLAJA
About this time 41 years ago, Etubom Oyo Orok Oyo made history, becoming the first Nigerian to be elected into the FIFA Executive Committee which has in the current dispensation renamed FIFA Council.
Sports Village Square recalls that the CAF General Assembly held at the National Arts Theatre in Iganmu, Lagos on Thursday 7 March 1980, the Nigerian candidate who had been a CAF Executive Committee member since 1972 had little challenge in winning on home soil.
But it was in Rabat, Morocco, the same city hosting this year’s CAF General Assembly, that Oyo lost his FIFA seat to Gambia’s Omar Sey in 1988.
Thirty three years on, can Nigeria’s Amaju Pinnick regain what Oyo Orok lost to the Gambian?
Incidentally, another Gambian, Lamin Kaba Bajo is in the race against Amaju Pinnick. Both are seating presidents of their respective football associations.
Both are in contest with four others for two of the Anglophone’s FIFA Council slots. In all, Africa will have six slots including the position of a FIFA Vice President which automatically goes to the CAF president.
The FIFA Council consists of 37 members: one President, elected by the FIFA Congress; eight vice presidents, and 28 other members elected by member associations – each for a term of four years.
There are 13 Africans jostling for the six positions that are spread along linguistic divide – Anglophone, Francophone and the Arab/Portuguese/Spanish group.
Of the three groups which will each produce two winners, the Anglophone will be the most competitive as the competitors are almost half of the entire 13 in the race.
Apart from the Gambian, Pinnick also have a current seating FIFA Council member to contend with. He is Malawi FA president, Walter Nyamilandu.
The power of incumbency cannot be underestimated. Also in the race is Zambia’s Andrew Kamanga. Like Pinnick, Nyamilandu and Bajo, he is also the president of his country’s FA.
In the days leading to his reelection as Zambia FA president, he had bruises with government agencies which tried to foil his recent reelection.
Kamanga became chairman of the local Kabwe Warriors and was first elected to head Zambian football in 2016, replacing Kalusha Bwalya.
He is a serving member on the seven-man FIFA audits and compliance committee and therefore has international clout.
Other oppositions to Pinnick come from Kenya and Tanzania. They Nicholas Mwendwa who was reelected as Kenya FA president last October and Wallace Karia, the Tanzania FA chief. Both Mwenwa and Karia are serving second terms on their various countries.
Amaju Pinnick is hoping to become the third Nigerian to seat in FIFA Council after Oyo Orok Oyo (1980 -1988) and Amos Adamu (2006 -2010). Adamu defeated Ghana’s Abedi ‘Pele’ Ayew in the 2006 and went in to replace Botswana’s Ismail Bhamji.
The election into the FIFA Council holds on Friday.
By Kunle Solaja.
Nigeria is set to host the 48th Ordinary General Assembly of the Confederation of African Football (CAF), marking the third time the country will stage the continent’s top football gathering.
The development was confirmed in a statement issued by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), which disclosed that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, on the sidelines of the ongoing Africa Forward Summit in Nairobi, Kenya, approved Nigeria’s proposal to host the event.
The approval followed a meeting between President Tinubu and CAF President Patrice Motsepe, attended by Nigeria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu, NFF President Ibrahim Musa Gusau, former NFF President and Special Adviser to the CAF President Amaju Melvin Pinnick, as well as CAF Acting General Secretary Samson Adamu.
Sports Villages Square affirms that Nigeria previously hosted the CAF Congress at the National Theatre in Lagos in March 1980 and again in February 2009, when the late CAF President Issa Hayatou secured another four-year term in office.
In addition to this year’s 48th Ordinary General Assembly, scheduled for October, Nigeria also secured the hosting rights of the CAF Awards ceremony. The annual awards gala, which celebrates Africa’s top football performers, has been staged in Morocco over the past three years.
Nigeria had earlier hosted the CAF Awards when telecom firm, Globacom, was the headline sponsor. This year’s event will be the seventh to be held in Nigeria after those of 2005, 2008, 2009, 2013, 2014 and 2016.
The CAF Ordinary General Assembly traditionally attracts key football stakeholders from across the continent, including presidents of CAF’s 54 member associations, representatives of the six zonal unions and senior football administrators.
The CAF Awards ceremony is regarded as one of African football’s flagship events, honouring outstanding players, coaches, clubs and officials in a glamorous setting that showcases the continent’s football excellence.
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FIFA’s independent Ethics Committee has banned former Guyana Football Federation (GFF) General Secretary Ian Alves from all football-related activities for five years after finding he sexually harassed female staff members.
FIFA also fined Alves 20,000 Swiss francs ($22,000) after determining that he had breached provisions of the FIFA Code of Ethics relating to the protection of physical and mental integrity, abuse of position and general duties.
“FIFA has a strict stance against all forms of abuse in football,” the organisation said on Monday.
The decision followed a review of written statements from the victims, documents provided by the GFF, submissions from Alves, and other evidence gathered during the investigation.
Alves stepped down from his position in 2024.
The ban came into force on Monday, when the terms of the decision were notified to Alves, and the full grounds for the ruling will be communicated within 60 days in accordance with the Code of Ethics, FIFA added.
The GFF did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. Alves could not immediately be reached for comment.
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FIFA President Gianni Infantino said on Thursday that he planned to seek re-election for a fourth term in a bid to continue to lead the governing body of world soccer.
Infantino confirmed he would run for the 2027–2031 term in the closing moments of the FIFA Congress in Vancouver, which comes less than two months before the start of the World Cup.
The election will be held on March 18 in Morocco, which is set to co-host the 2030 World Cup.
Infantino said he was “honoured and humbled” to have the chance to run for a fourth term.
The Italian-Swiss took office in 2016, replacing Sepp Blatter, and was re-elected unopposed in 2019 and 2023.
Infantino has pushed for the expansion of FIFA competitions during his tenure, with this year’s World Cup in North America the first to feature 48 teams, while the women’s tournament in 2023 has been expanded to 32 teams.
Infantino’s tenure has also drawn some criticism over issues such as high World Cup ticket prices and the decision to award the inaugural FIFA Peace Prize to U.S. President Donald Trump at the World Cup draw in December.
Earlier this month, the council of South American football’s governing body (CONMEBOL) said in a statement it would unanimously support the 56-year-old if he decided to seek another term.
-Reuters
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