Governing Bodies
Rwanda to host elective FIFA Congress
The 73rd edition of the FIFA Congress, where a Presidential election is due to take place, has been scheduled for Kigali in Rwanda on March 16 next year.
An election timeline was approved by the FIFA Council at its meeting in March in Doha, where current President Gianni Infantino announced he would stand for re-election.
Infantino, who is an International Olympic Committee member, was first elected as FIFA President in February 2016 in the wake of the corruption scandal which brought down predecessor Sepp Blatter.
The Swiss-Italian then won a second term when he stood unopposed for re-election at the Congress in Paris in 2019.
Infantino has enjoyed particularly strong support from Africa during his Presidency,
This has included the Confederation of African Football (CAF) supporting the idea of a biennial World Cup – something Infantino has now moved to distance himself from – and the CAF publicly backing Infantino when he faced backlash over comment he made suggesting the proposal could help prevent African migrants from finding “death in the sea”.
South African Patrice Motsepe was elected unopposed as the new CAF President at a General Assembly in Rabat last year.
Motsepe’s election followed Presidential candidates Ahmed Yahya from Mauritania, Ivorian Jacques Anouma and Senegal’s Augustin Senghor dropping out of the race – each after meeting with Infantino.
Infantino denied influencing the election, but also claimed to be “delighted that FIFA has been able to contribute, even if just a little, to this crucial moment for football on this great continent” when it was confirmed that Motsepe would be able to run for the Presidency unopposed.
Infantino currently has no challengers for the Presidency, although his ties with Russia and Saudi Arabia have caused concern in some quarters over whether he is fit to serve as President.
The deadline for candidacies is four months prior to the Congress.
Kigali has already hosted a FIFA Council meeting in October 2018, but its selection as the destination for the Congress will not be without controversy.
Same-sex marriages are not recognised by the state in Rwanda, and activists say that while homosexuality is not outlawed, members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community regularly face persecution.
FIFA has celebrated Pride Month but is preparing for the 2022 World Cup to Qatar, where homosexuality is illegal, and claims the tournament “will be a celebration of unity and diversity.”
Qatar also hosted this year’s FIFA Congress.
The treatment of Paul Rusesabagina will also give rise to criticism over the choice of Kigali as Congress host.
The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention states Rusesabagina has been illegally kidnapped, tortured, and sentenced after an unfair trial.
In August 2020, he took what he believed to be a flight to Burundi from Dubai but arrived in the Rwandan capital and was arrested on nine charges of terrorism that related to his association with the National Liberation Front political party.
“It is clear on the facts that Mr Rusesabagina has been targeted by the Government on account of his work as a human rights defender, because of his criticism of the Government on a broad range of human rights issues, including unfair elections and a lack of democracy, freedom of speech, freedom of association and freedom of the press,” stated the Working Group.
“He has also challenged cases of arbitrary detention, torture and extrajudicial killings”
Rusesabagina worked as the manager of the Hôtel des Mille Collines in Kigali, during a period in which it housed 1,268 Hutu and Tutsi refugees from the Interahamwe militia during the Rwandan genocide.
His actions, which are credited with saving the lives of hundreds of refugees, were made famous by the film Hotel Rwanda.
The 68-year-old was sentenced to 25 years in prison last year.
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Governing Bodies
Nigeria becoming an epicentre of global badminton as Francis Orbih enters the Badminton World Federation Council
Laurels on the courts and now glory in the boardroom sums up the mark that badminton is making in Nigeria.
The President, Badminton Federation of Nigeria (BFN), Francis Orbih, has been elected as a council member of the Badminton World Federation (BWF).
The election took place during the BWF Annual General Meeting on Saturday in Xiamen, China.
Orbih emerged victorious over top contenders from other African countries.
He will join Cameroon’s Odette Assembe Engoulou on the council, while Chipo Zumburani (Zimbabwe) and Hadia ElSaid (Egypt) missed out.
An elated Orbih expressed his gratitude to fellow badminton presidents across the globe for their trust and support.
He said, “I am deeply honoured by the trust placed in me by my peers across the badminton world.
“I look forward to quality representation, driving development initiatives, and strengthening badminton’s global reach over the next four years.”
Orbih also acknowledged the support of the Federal Government of Nigeria, particularly the National Sports Commission (NSC), which he said played a significant role in his successful bid.
“The Chairman and the Director General of the NSC monitored the entire process. I’m grateful for their involvement and confident Nigeria will benefit from this,” he stated.
He further appreciated the BFN board members and the Nigerian badminton community for their prayers and continued belief in his leadership.
“From the day I declared my intentions, the board members of BFN have been supportive, and I promise not to disappoint them,” Orbih concluded.
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A former member of the FIFA Council, Mamoutou Toure, has been released from jail in Mali after almost two years in detention for alleged corruption, Malian media reports said on Wednesday.
Toure, president of the Malian Football Federation since 2019, was released after 622 days in prison on Tuesday.
He served on the FIFA Council, world football’s all-powerful decision-making body, for four years until last month when he lost his seat after failing to contest new elections.
The 67-year-old was arrested in August 2023 on allegations of embezzling $28 million of public funds but was granted a provisional release order by the Malian courts, reports said.
He was accused of misconduct during his time as the National Assembly’s financial and administrative director from 2013-2019.
Toure denied all charges and, during his time in jail, was last August re-elected as Malian Football Federation president for a second consecutive term, with his supporters claiming he was a victim of a conspiracy fuelled by detractors.
While in jail, he received a letter of support from FIFA president Gianni Infantino. However, as of last month, Toure is no longer a member of the FIFA Council or the Confederation of African Football’s executive committee.
-Reuters
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The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has denied reports of an outstanding debt to former captain Christian Chukwu and has challenged anyone with verifiable documents to prove otherwise.
Chukwu, a former national team captain and chief coach, died last Saturday.
The Nigeria Football Federation decried statements in a section of social media that the football-ruling body was indebted to the deceased.
Reacting to one statement on social media that claimed NFF owed the 1980 Africa Cup of Nations-winning team captain the sum of $128,000, NFF General Secretary, Dr Mohammed Sanusi, said: “There is no record in the NFF of any outstanding indebtedness to ‘Chairman’ Christian Chukwu.
“During the first term of the Board headed by Amaju Pinnick, a committee was set up to diligently peruse the papers of coaches who were being owed, even from previous NFF administrations.
“That committee was given the clear mandate to verify all debts and ensure that the coaches being owed were paid immediately. I am aware that the ‘Chairman’ was in the employ of the NFF between 2002 and 2005, before he was relieved of the post following the 1-1 draw with Angola in a FIFA World Cup qualifying match in Kano in August 2005. There is certainly no record of indebtedness to him in the NFF.”
Sanusi challenged anyone with genuine and verifiable documents of NFF indebtedness to any coach, who has worked with any of the National Teams over the past two decades, to come forward and tender those documents.
“As a credible organization that is very much alive to its responsibilities, if we are confronted with any genuine document of indebtedness to any coach, we will offset the debt immediately.”
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