In all these, many however believe the Cameroonian deserve to take a bow now. “He has been at the helm of affairs for 23 years and he has lost ideas now”, that is what one soccer fanatic chose to say about the godfather of African football. His critics say in as much as he has done fairly well, he has also failed to deal with indiscipline by clubs, home teams and referees. It is during Hayatou’s time that teams are robbed in broad day light in open play by home teams yet CAF has failed to stamp its authority on the game.
CAF for instance, delivered a shameful verdict early this year after Togo decided to withdraw from the Angola 2010 Africa Cup of Nations when two members of their team died from gunshot wounds and several others were injured in the rebel held town of Cabinda. The Issa Hayatou led CAF decided to suspend the Togolese team, a decision that caused outrage in Africa because many thought that was harsh, however CAF later rescinded its decision.
The Africa Best Player Award has also generated a lot of debate of late. Infact it started in 2001 when Ghana’s own Samuel Osei-Kuffuor was robbed of the then coveted title and rather given to Senegalese El Hadj Ousseynou Diouf under very mysterious circumstances. Come to think of it, the decision from CAF now is that deserving players will obviously not win the award once they fail to make an appearance at the gala night; it will rather be awarded to the other nominees who would be able to make it to the programme. The Africa’s topmost award has now lost its value and significance because it has been dogged by a lot more controversies in the last couple of years, a development which is not good for the African game as we strive to strike parity with our European and South American brothers in terms of the development of the game.
In spite of all the controversies surrounding Hayatou’s reign, he’s chalked some few successes in some aspects of our game. For instance, he made sure Africa’s representative at the biggest football mundial was increased to five. Even though an African side is yet to make it to even the semi-finals of the FIFA World Cup, many have come to accept the fact that Africa truly deserves its number of slots.
The merging of the African Cup Winners Cup and the CAF Cup into the Confederations Cup and the African Championship Clubs Cup into the more lucrative Champions League has made the teams more competitive as the various clubs strive to get the top prize money.
The African Nations Cup has also seen dramatic but positive changes. The number of teams has shot up to 16, and it offers the opportunity to other countries who hitherto could not qualify for the competition now has the opportunity because it has been expanded. The only dent on the competition is however the timing as even notable players like Samuel Eto’o and Didier Drogba has said it should be synchronized with the European calendar to avoid conflict with their clubs. CAF is yet to take a final decision on this subject.
As a matter of fact, junior competitions and women’s football has also seen significant improvements which are all the handiworks of Papa Hayatou but as they say “Nyansa nni baakofoo tirim” to wit, wisdom does not dwell in the mind of one man.
It is indeed true that Alhadji Issa Hayatou has done a yeoman’s job given the difficulties on the African terrain but 23 years is too long a time for him to take a rest. Fresh limbs are now required for the increasingly rigorous football administration given his recent hospitalization in Egypt for chest problems. The time for Alhaji to hand over to a fresh face with fresh ideas is now.
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