ACTUALITE |
19.03.2002
Hayatou`s FIFA Presidency Ambition, Asian Tigers May Undo Africa Again
IT is not an illegitimate ambition that CAF President, Issa Hayatou, wants to become the first African to head the world football-governing body, FIFA. But as he begins his campaign for the job of one of the four most important personalities in the universe, (the United States President, the U.N. Secretary-General and the IOC President, are perhaps the most important), the Cameroonian would do well to recall the events of July 6, 2000.
On that day, inside FIFA s headquarters in Zurich, the world implied that Africa does not belong. A flawless bid by South Africa, which even the FIFA inspection team rated above that of England and at par with Germany s, lost the race to host the World Cup 2006.
On that day, there was really no reason to deny Africa. FIFA President, Sepp Blatter, had given his word. The South African bid led by Danny Jordaan, had toured the world to ring home its message : there was the need to put the world into the World Cup, in the real sense of it.
By the end of this year, there would have been 17 World Cup final tournaments. Nine have been hosted by Europe, one by Asia ( Korea/Japan 2002), and the rest by the Americas. In all, there would have been 39 tournaments staged by FIFA since the organisation was founded in 1904 taking in the U-20 and U-17 events. Only three of those 39 championships have been hosted in Africa the 1977 U-20 in Tunisia, the 1997 U-17 in Egypt and the 1999 U-20 in Nigeria.
Not many people expected South Africa to lose. But she did. A senile fellow from New Zealand by the name Charles Dempsey, opted out of the final round of voting, just when his vote for the Africans would have tied the outcome , leaving Africa-friendly Sepp Blatter to use the casting vote.
Why are we even crying over spilt milk? Blatter never got to use that casting vote because Germany won 12-11, Africa went into long days of sorrow and despair and the world moved on.
But of particular distaste was the revelation then, that the Asian members of the FIFA executive, four in all, had block-voted for Germany, against Africa with whom they had long years of amity, understanding and co-operation in so many areas, sports inclusive.
South Korea s powerful FIFA Vice-President, Dr Chung Mong-Joon, got Abdullah al-Dabah from Saudi Arabia, Mohamed Bin Hammam from Qatar and Worawi Makudi from Thailand to give their votes in all the rounds of voting to Germany even when everyone knew that Europe did not need the World Cup.
France hosted in 1998, Italy in 1990 and Spain in 1982. Germany were hosts in 1974 and England in 1966. That was the reason why the South American candidate, Brazil, withdrew for South Africa three days to the final vote.
But the Asians saw no reason to back their African brothers. They opted for the Oyibos .
It is on this score that the support purportedly being given Hayatou by Dr Chung should not really be taken to heart.
Chung has proved over the years to be a wily political chess master and master dribbler. It is not for nothing that in his country, he is considered as one of those capable of wresting the presidency from President Kim Dae-Jung.
In fact, it is believed that he is no longer interested in the FIFA presidency because, he is going for the South Korean presidency. The elections are billed for this year, after the World Cup which they co-host with Japan.
For now, and for whatever it is worth, Hayatou should take more seriously the support of UEFA President, Lennart Johansson, whom he backed to no avail against Sepp Blatter four years ago.
Johansson has said oftentimes that he is no longer interested in the FIFA job, preferring to do one more term as UEFA boss before standing down. He was recently diagnosed as having cancer.
Hayatou could also expect support from another FIFA vice- president, Jack Warner, of Trinidad and Tobago. Warner has never been a pretender he is an avid supporter of African causes.
But even Johansson must be seen for what he is. In fact, the real reason why African voters shunned him four years ago was because of his well-documented distaste for blacks, generally. He was on Swedish television sometime in 1997, disparaging blacks, not knowing that the programme would be aired in Africa. Although, he later apologised, many people knew then that his much-publicised Meridian project with CAF was solely for the purpose of garnering African votes for the 1998 FIFA presidency poll.
In the end, the Swede lost the election by 80 votes to 111. Has he forgiven African voters for the shut-out? No one can confidently say.
He has reportedly praised Hayatou s qualities, but wants the 55 year old Cameroonian to declare his candidacy before he would know who to back.
Ordinarily, Hayatou has good qualifications for the job of the world s football governor. A former secretary of the Federation Cameroon de Football (FECAFOOT), Hayatou became president of the Confederation of African Football in 1988, when he defeated the old fox Dr Abdelhalim Mohamed of Sudan, to inherit the seat left vacant when the Ethiopian Ydnekatchev Tessema died in 1987 of cancer.
His 14 years at the top of African football tree has seen a lot of growth in the game, with more money expanded, and more sophisticated administration, and a refinement of rules.
At 55, he has age on his side. If he succeeds, Hayatou would be only the second non-European to direct the affairs of international football since FIFA was founded in a non-descript building on an ordinary street in France on May 21, 1904. The only non-European to have been there before was the Brazilian industrialist, Joao Havelange, who expanded the organisation beyond the dreams of the conservatives and won the body immense respect.
This year s election in Seoul, comes eight days after the 98th year anniversary of the world body, and what a great step today s administrators would have taken if they try someone from a different continent in the administration of the game.
The recent cash-for-vote allegations raised against Blatter s victory in 1998, by Hayatou s deputy, Farah Addo, will either help the Cameroonian s cause or ruin it. Addo is seen mostly as a senile fellow within FIFA, and the fact that an African, Molefi Oliphant, who heads the South African federation has called the lie of the claims, has taken a lot of weight out of it. Oliphant insists that he voted for Blatter because the German-Swiss promised to back South Africa for the 2006 World Cup hosting, and not because they were bribed.
Addo claimed : "we at CAF had decided to commit all 51 of our votes to Lennart Johansson. Then I received a phone call from the Somalia Ambassador to one of the Gulf States. He said, I have a friend who you know who wants to offer you $100,000 to switch your vote . The night before the vote, people were lining to receive money&". Addo claimed he did not take, but that the two other guys from Somalia did.
The question is why did it take Addo four years to come out? Considering that he stands to benefit (he would become president of CAF till the next election in 2004 if Hayatou wins the FIFA poll, many are not disposed to taking his words serious. Except of course, those who are backing Hayatou, or have an axe to grind with Blatter.
Blatter calls it all a destabilisation and defamation campaign . Like many people, he s wondering why it took Addo and his travellers so many years to break the news .
If the allegation is proved to be baseless, or could not be proved beyond reasonable doubt, the backlash may be destructive of the Hayatou candidacy.
Blatter would go on to claim sympathy votes.
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