Friday, 9 October 2015

Who is Fifa's new boss Issa Hayatou?

New acting President of Fifa, Issa Hayatou
"Today, amid extraordinary circumstances, I have assumed the office of Fifa president."
And with those words, Issa Hayatou stepped up to the top job in football.
He's taking temporary charge following the suspension of Sepp Blatter - who's being investigated over claims of corruption, which he denies.
As Fifa goes into total meltdown, what do we know about Issa Hayatou?
Issa Hayatou

More of the same?

Issa Hayatou is no stranger to controversy or corruption claims himself.
The 69-year-old from Cameroon has been the president of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) since 1988. He's also been a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) since 2001.
In 2010, Mr Hayatou and CAF were strongly criticised for banning Togo from two future African Nations Cup competitions.
Togo was banned after the side withdrew from that year's tournament in Angola following the gun attack on the team bus which killed three people.
An Angolan policeman stands guard following the gun attack on the Togo team bus at the African Nations Cup, 2010
Image captionAn Angolan policeman stands guard following the gun attack on the Togo team bus at the African Nations Cup, 2010
The team was also fined $50,000 (£33,000).
The ban was eventually lifted but not before the then captain of Togo,Emmanuel Adebayor, described the decision as "outrageous" and said Mr Hayatou had "completely betrayed" the Togo squad.
Also in 2010, the BBC's Panorama accused him and two others of taking millions of pounds of bribes in the 1990s.
The programme claimed the payments were made over the awarding of World Cup TV rights. He denied doing anything wrong but the accusations earned him an official reprimand from the IOC.
Sepp Blatter and Issa Hayatou
Image captionIssa Hayatou is seen as loyal to the suspended Fifa president, Sepp Blatter
One year later, he was again accused of dodgy dealing. He was one of two Fifa officials accused of taking bribes worth $1.5m (£980,000) to support the Qatar World Cup bid.
Again, he denied taking the money.
In 2013, he was elected unopposed for a seventh four-year term as the head of CAF and has gone to great lengths to stay in charge.
He changed the rules to make sure anyone who wanted to challenge for the presidency could only come from CAF's own executive committee - which is controlled by him.
On the plus side, he's seen as boosting the profile of African football and helping to get more African teams into World Cup finals.

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