CAF: Samuel Eto'o cited among contenders to succeed Patrice Motsepe
Samuel Eto'o, president of the Cameroonian Football Federation (Fecafoot) and a member of the Confederation of African Football's executive committee, is among the leaders considering a bid for the CAF presidency. The information comes from the British newspaper The Guardian, reported on October 14, 2026, by the Senegalese site Wiwsport and AfricaSoccer. At this stage, no candidacy has been declared, and the former captain of the Indomitable Lions has not spoken publicly on the matter.
Three other names cited
The same report mentions Ahmed Yahya, a Mauritanian leader; Yacine Idriss Diallo, president of the Ivorian federation; and Souleiman Waberi, a Djiboutian member of the FIFA Council. The latter is being prosecuted for embezzlement and money laundering, accusations he denies, AfricaSoccer specifies.
The AFCON reversal, spark of the crisis
Patrice Motsepe, re-elected unopposed in 2025, has already announced that he will not seek a third term in 2029. His position has weakened following the announcement of a return to a two-year cycle for the Africa Cup of Nations, just ten months after the adoption of a four-year cycle. According to The Guardian, several federation presidents were reportedly not informed of this intention before it was raised at the CAF strategic conference in Cape Verde. The decision is set to be confirmed in November 2026 in Abidjan.
Money, TV rights, and doubts about AFCON 2027
Other issues are fueling the dissent: the increase in annual support paid to federations, raised to approximately 700,000 dollars; the revaluation of allowances for executive committee members; concerns over broadcasting rights; the end of the contract with the IMG agency after AFCON 2027; and doubts regarding the hosting of that tournament in Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda, scheduled for June-July with a possible postponement to December-January. The CAF boss has also promised "unconditional" support to Gianni Infantino for his re-election as head of FIFA in March.
Nothing is set in stone: for now, these are maneuvers reported by the press and not an open campaign. But the debate touches on a question that belongs to Africans themselves: who leads the football of a continent of 54 federations, according to what rules, and with what transparency regarding the game's money.
This article was written in French with the help of artificial intelligence from the sources cited below, then translated from French automatically. Read the original.
