FILE PHOTO: Soccer Football- Africa Cup of Nations draw.- The exhibition center of Abidjan, Ivory Coast - October 12, 2023. Patrice Motsepe, president of CAF (African Football Confederation) speaks during the draw. REUTERS/Luc Gnago/File Photo
CAPE TOWN (Reuters) - Confederation of African Football president Patrice Motsepe will run for a second term as the head of the continent’s football governing body when elections are held next year, CAF announced on Friday.
The South African billionaire mining magnate was elected unopposed in March 2021 after emerging as the preferred candidate of FIFA president Gianni Infantino.
“Following requests from numerous CAF member association presidents, zonal union presidents and key stakeholders, the CAF president, Dr Patrice Motsepe has finally agreed to stand as a candidate at the CAF presidential elections scheduled for March 2025,” said a brief statement on the CAF website.
CAF did not provide details on who had asked Motsepe to stand again but it has become commonplace at both FIFA and CAF for candidates seeking re-election to solicit supporting letters.
No other candidates have declared their intention to stand for the leadership of the sport in Africa, although the deadline for nominations is four months before the date of elections.
The 62-year-old Motsepe was the first Black African to be included on Forbes’ list of billionaires and according to the magazine has a net worth of $3 billion.
He has been involved in football since 2003 when he took a stake in the South African club Mamelodi Sundowns, later taking ownership and spending millions on players to help them become African champions in 2016.
He was handpicked by Infantino to run African football after the previous president Ahmad Ahmad of Madagascar was banned for corruption.
Motsepe is the seventh president in the history of African football’s governing body since its formation in 1956.
(Writing by Mark Gleeson in Cape Town; Editing by Toby Davis)
