Governing Bodies
Malian Football Federation elects a president in prison
FIFA Council member Mamoutou Touré has been re-elected unopposed as Malian Football Federation (Femafoot) President, despite being detained on charges of embezzling public funds, after three other candidates were deemed ineligible to stand.
Touré, also known as Bavieux, has been jailed awaiting trial after being accused of infringing public state property and forgery between 2013 and 2019 during his time as a financial and administrative director in the Malian National Assembly.
He and four others are alleged to have embezzled $28 million (£22 million/€26 million) in state funds.
All deny the charges.
Mamoutou Touré received 61 of the 63 votes at the Femafoot Extraordinary General Assembly after he was the only one of the four candidates who passed an eligibility test ©Femafoot
Despite the ongoing case, Touré was the only one of the four candidates who passed an eligibility test.
Former Femafoot spokesperson Salaha Baby was initially cleared to stand, but an appeal from Touré against this was upheld which allowed him to secure unopposed re-election with 61 votes from 63 cast at the International Conference Centre of Bamako.
There was one abstention and one vote against Touré.
Touré was first elected as Femafoot President in 2019, and his fresh four-year term runs through to 2027.
Mali’s Sports Minister Abdoul Kassim Ibrahim Fomba had written to outgoing FIFA secretary general Fatma Samoura of Senegal earlier this month expressing concern over the electoral process.
Observers from the Confederation of African Football (CAF) and FIFA attended the Extraordinary General Assembly to oversee the elections.
Observers from the CAF and FIFA attended the Femafoot Extraordinary General Assembly in Bamako ©Femafoot
The 66-year-old Touré is also a member of the CAF Executive Committee and FIFA Council.
FIFA Council membership provides an annual salary of $250,000 (£198,000/€230,000) plus expenses.
The BBC has reported an audit of Femafoot’s finances of 2022 by the Pyramis group showed the national governing body did not pay any taxes to the Malian state from deductions from staff salaries, nearly $50,000 (£39,600/€46,000) was awarded to “other parties” without a reason or approval from the Femafoot Board, and no financial report has been provided to the Femafoot General Assembly for the last three years.
Femafoot claimed Touré’s plans for his renewed four-year term include construction of infrastructure, reorganising local competitions and upgrading subsidies to local football bodies under its umbrella.
insidethegames has asked FIFA for a comment on Touré re-election.
Femafoot was suspended for six weeks by FIFA in 2017 for Government interference.
Mali has never qualified for the men’s or Women’s World Cup.
It is set to compete in the men’s Olympic football tournament at Paris 2024 for the first time since Athens 2004 after finishing third at the Under-23 Africa Cup of Nations.
Following Touré’s arrest, Femafoot insisted “the presumption of innocence which must at all times benefit any accused person” should apply and claimed it had been “fuelled by his opponents”.
A military council led by Colonel Assimi Goïta seized power in Mali in August 2020, and he has served as Interim President since May 2021.
There are concerns over a lack of opposition in Mali and widespread jihadist insurgency in the north and east of the country.
-insidethegames
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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Nigeria becoming an epicentre of global badminton as Francis Orbih enters the Badminton World Federation Council
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