The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has made its stand known heading to the Friday 26th February FIFA elections to pick a successor to Sepp Blatter.
The continent will as a bloc, be voting for the Asian Football Confederations (AFC) president Sheikh Salman Bin Ibrahim Al-Khalifa, rejecting the continent’s own, Tokyo Sexwale, who hails from South Africa.
After a whole day of deliberations in the CAF Executive Committee meeting in Kigali on Friday, the CAF second vice president Almamy Kabele Camara stepped out to reveal the body will be voting as a bloc for Al – Khalifa.
“After the CAF executive meeting today, we have unanimously decided to back Sheikh Salman as the next FIFA president,” he said.
Camara declined to take questions from the waiting journalists, only stating that CAF will be releasing a detailed report on the decision on its website later on.
Sexwale, along with other candidates, Gianni Infantino and Jerome Champagne have been camping in Rwanda to lobby for the continent’s vote.
Meanwhile, defiant Sexwale says he’s staying in the Fifa presidential race despite the decision of CAF to support his rival, Sheikh Salman of Bahrain, for the Fifa presidency, was just a recommendation on the candidate they would like to nominate.
“No-one has been elected to any position today. I want to congratulate Sheikh Salman for having the choice of Caf as a nominee,” Sexwale told reporters in Rwanda’s capital, Kigali.
The former anti-apartheid campaigner added that there are 54 associations on the continent, many of which will make their own choices.
“I have been sent by my own association from South Africa… and also represent the aspiration of many associations across the world that nominated me.”
Sexwale says he is a democrat, and “we all should be” democrats, adding that individual associations should be able to make their own decision.
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