Nigeria’s Amaju Pinnick is expected to retain his seat as one of the 37 members of the FIFA Council – the supreme governing organ for world football.
The election will be held at the 14th Extraordinary General Assembly of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) in Cairo, Egypt on Wednesday.
The former Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) president is in the race alongside Moroccan Fouzi Lekjaa and Egyptian Hany Abou Rida, with 10 candidates seeking the available five seats at the election scheduled for the Marriott Mena House on Wednesday morning.
Africa has seven seats on the FIFA Council, with the sitting CAF President’s position guaranteed. One of the seven seats is reserved for a woman, and CAF’s fifth vice-president Kanizat Ibrahim from the Comoros Islands will contest it with member Isha Johansen from Sierra Leone.
Ivorian Yacine Idriss Diallo, Senegal’s Augustin Senghor, Niger Republic’s Djibrilla ‘Pele’ Hima Hamidou, Zambia’s Andrew Kamanga, Mauritanian Ahmed Yahya, Benin Republic’s Mathurin De Chacus and Djibouti’s Souleman Hassan Waberi are also taking part in the election.
Each of the 54 Member Associations will have the opportunity to vote five candidates in the male category, and one of the two women.
NFF president Alhaji Ibrahim Gusau, who will vote on behalf of Nigeria, landed in Cairo on Sunday in company with the General Secretary, Dr Mohammed Sanusi.
The Government of Nigeria, which publicly endorsed Pinnick’s candidacy through the Presidency in July 2024, is represented by Chairman of the National Sports Commission, Alhaji Shehu Dikko, and Director-General, Bukola Olopade.
Unlike the elections into the FIFA Council, the race for seats into the CAF Executive Committee has been weakened by zonal arrangements that have seen single candidates emerge in most zones, except the southern African region where fierce contests are expected.
South African mining billionaire and CAF president Patrice Motsepe comes from the COSAFA region where four candidates, Elvis Chetty (Seychelles), Alfred Randriamanampisoa (Madagascar), Mohamed Ally Samir (Mauritius) and Feizal Ismael Sidat (Mozambique), battle for two seats.
Elsewhere, Cameroonian legend Samuel Eto’o Fils, who needed the intervention of the Court of Arbitration for Sports to be reinstated on the ballot, is the sole candidate for the UNIFFAC (Central Africa) region, as Mustapha Ishola Raji (Liberia) for the WAFU A zone; Kurt Edwin-Simeon Okraku for the WAFU B zone and Algeria’s Sadhi Walid for the UNAF (North Africa) zone.
The only female seat is also uncontested, with Congolese Bestine Kazadi the only candidate on the ballot.
