CAF President Issa Hayatou Reacts with Surprise to Blatter’s Resignation
Africa, which strongly backed Sepp Blatter during the most recent FIFA Congress, has been left stunned by the Swiss administrator’s unexpected resignation just four days after his re-election.
“I was surprised. No one could have imagined that he would resign three or four days after the congress,” Issa Hayatou, president of the Confederation of African Football (CAF), told France 24 in a phone interview.
Despite his long-standing support for Blatter, Hayatou refrained from passing judgment on the outgoing FIFA president. Instead, he emphasized the surprise and unpredictability of the announcement:
“He has his reasons. I have taken note that he will organize an extraordinary congress between December and March 2016. We will see what happens in the meantime. But the surprise is total.”
As speculation swirls about who will step into the role, Hayatou firmly ruled out any possibility of his own candidacy.
“No. I was a candidate in 2002, I wasn’t elected. My age no longer allows me to run. I’m 69, Blatter is 10 years older than me. I can’t afford to be a candidate.”
However, the CAF president echoed Blatter’s call for deep reforms within FIFA:
“Who can accept that there is corruption anywhere? As the FIFA president pointed out, we will have to rebuild a FIFA that is accepted by everyone.”
For African football, the unexpected shift in global leadership opens a period of reflection—and opportunity—as the sport looks toward new governance and greater transparency.
