Breaking News: Ex-Liberia President George Weah emerges as a potential successor to Patrice Motsepe at CAF

George Weah has emerged as a potential successor to Patrice Motsepe as president the Confederation of African Football (CAF), bringing a rare combination of global football stature and experience as a head of state to the debate over who should lead the organisation from 2029, AfricaSoccer.com can exclusively reveal.

The former Liberia President has made no public declaration of interest in the CAF job, and no candidate has publicly entered the race but sources close to Weah have revealed his plans to vie for the position when it becomes vacant in 2029.

Motsepe was re-elected unopposed in March 2025 for a second term that runs until 2029 and has said he does not intend to seek a third term.

Weah’s associates believe the former Liberia leader is the rightly placed person to build on the strides made by Motsepe of repositioning CAF and cement the impressive legacy of the South African billionaire businessman.

“President Weah is the right man to maintain and grow the respect and dignity Patrice Motsepe has brought to CAF and African football. He has the top experience as an excellent footballer and also a former leader of a country. Combining both experiences will bring a lot to what Motsepe has done for African football,” the highly reliable source told AfricaSoccer.com on condition of anonymity on Sunday.

Weah remains the only African to win the men’s FIFA World Player of the Year award. He also won the Ballon d’Or in 1995 after rising from Liberian football to play for Monaco, Paris Saint-Germain and AC Milan. He went on to win Liberia’s presidential election in 2017 and held office from January 2018 to January 2024. 

That record gives Weah a profile few potential candidates can match. His standing in the game could help him get a hearing with sponsors and broadcasters, while six years in office gave him experience dealing with governments and international institutions. Both matter to CAF, whose competitions rely on co-operation with host governments and whose development programmes depend in part on commercial revenue.

Building on Motsepe’s commercial gains

The next president will inherit an organisation that has rebuilt its commercial reach under Motsepe. CAF posted a net profit of $9.48m for the financial year ended June 2024, following a $9.25m deficit the previous year. Its activity report subsequently recorded an unaudited loss of $43m for 2024–25, underscoring the challenge of sustaining those gains. CAF said its roster of sponsors and partners had grown to 16 in 2024–25. 

On Friday, CAF announced a worldwide rights deal with FeedConstruct covering match data and betting streaming for competitions including the Africa Cup of Nations and the CAF Champions League. 

Motsepe’s tenure has also brought higher prize money and increased support for member associations. His successor will have to grow those revenues while deciding how much to direct towards clubs, youth academies and the professionalisation of domestic leagues. 

The route to a CAF candidacy

Getting onto the ballot would require backing beyond Liberia. Under CAF’s published statutes, a presidential candidate needs written support from at least three member associations, including their own. Candidates must also have held a qualifying role as a player or football official for at least two of the five years before standing. 

Cameroon federation president Samuel Eto’o, Mauritania’s Ahmed Yahya, Côte d’Ivoire’s Yacine Idriss Diallo and former Djibouti FA President Souleiman Waberi have also been mentioned in reporting on the succession. 

The prospect of Weah standing would give CAF’s 54 member associations a figure whose experience spans the dressing room, a national election campaign and the presidency of a country. 

If Weah enters the race, the associations that elect Motsepe’s successor will want to know how he would turn CAF’s commercial agreements into predictable funding for the leagues, clubs and players they represent.