14th CAF congress: Nigeria’s Amaju Pinnick favoured to retain FIFA Council seat

By Olaolu Joseph

Nigeria’s Amaju Melvin Pinnick is highly favoured to retain his seat as a member of the 37-person FIFA Council—the supreme governing body of world football—when elections are conducted at the 14th Extraordinary General Assembly of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) in Cairo, Egypt, on Wednesday.

The debonair football administrator is at the forefront of the race alongside Moroccan Fouzi Lekjaa and Egyptian Hany Abou Rida, with 10 candidates vying for the five available seats when the poll is held at the Marriott Mena House on Wednesday morning.

Africa has seven seats on the FIFA Council, with the CAF President’s position guaranteed. One of the seven seats is reserved for a woman, where CAF’s 5th Vice President, Kanizat Ibrahim from the Comoros Islands, will contest against incumbent member Isha Johansen from Sierra Leone.

The contest for the FIFA Council seats is expected to be the fiercest ever, with Ivorian Yacine Idriss Diallo, Senegal’s Augustin Senghor, Niger Republic’s Djibrilla ‘Pele’ Hima Hamidou, Zambia’s Andrew Kamanga, Mauritanian Ahmed Yahya, Benin Republic’s Mathurin De Chacus, and Djibouti’s Souleman Hassan Waberi also in the race.

CAF President Patrice Motsepe, who is unchallenged for a second term at the helm of African football, will retain his seat without opposition but will watch keenly as only half of the contestants—each a strong and strategic football administrator—secure a place on the esteemed FIFA Council.

Each of the 54 Member Associations will have the opportunity to vote for five candidates in the male category and one of the two female candidates. President of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Alhaji Ibrahim Musa Gusau, who will cast Nigeria’s vote, arrived in Cairo on Sunday alongside the General Secretary, Dr. Mohammed Sanusi.

The Government of Nigeria, which publicly endorsed Pinnick’s candidacy through the Presidency in July 2024, is well represented, with the Chairman of the National Sports Commission, Alhaji Shehu Dikko, and Director-General Hon. Bukola Olopade on the ground.

There were indications on Tuesday morning that Mauritania’s Yahya may also secure a seat in the contest at the extraordinary general assembly, which begins at 9 a.m. Nigeria time.