Issa Hayatou, 77, a longtime leader of African soccer and a former FIFA temporary president, passes away
Issa Hayatou, the longtime head of African soccer who served as FIFA’s acting president in 2015 amid the organization’s corruption scandal, passed away on Thursday. He was seventy-seven.
“Saddened to hear of the passing of former CAF president, former FIFA president and interim, FIFA vice-president, and FIFA Council member Issa Hayatou,” FIFA president Gianni Infantino said on Instagram. He was a lifelong sports enthusiast who committed his career to sports administration. FIFA sends its condolences to his family, friends, former coworkers, and everyone who knew him. Peace be with you.
In addition, Hayatou served as an honorary member of the International Olympic Committee for 15 years, ending in 2016.
While Paris was hosting the Olympics, he passed away there.
Despite being a national track and field champion, Hayatou, a native of Cameroon, became well-known and powerful in soccer.
of 1988, he was chosen to head the Confederation of African Football, and four years later, he held the position of vice president of the global soccer organization FIFA.
In 2002, amid severe financial and political unrest at FIFA, Hayatou stood against then-president Sepp Blatter in an election that he would ultimately lose badly in spite of widespread backing in Europe. By a vote of 139 to 56, Hayatou was found to have lost support from his African colleagues.
When a wave of North and South American officials were ousted from power in 2015 due to federal investigations into suspected corruption in international soccer in the US and Switzerland, Blatter remained the head of FIFA.
For a four-month period, Hayatou replaced his former adversary as FIFA’s temporary president, guiding the organization toward anti-corruption measures and an election that installed Infantino.
After 29 years in charge of CAF, Hayatou lost the 2017 election to be replaced by Ahmad Ahmad of Madagascar, who had backing from Infantino.
Following that, the FIFA ethics committee opened an inquiry into Hayatou, who was given a one-year soccer suspension in 2021 due to a purported breach of a “duty of loyalty” in a commercial rights agreement with CAF.
In a different instance, the IOC ethics panel censured him in 2011 for accepting a financial payment from a Swiss marketing firm, ISL, in 1995 when it gave FIFA the rights to broadcast the World Cup.
Hayatou was raised in a well-to-do family in Cameroon, and his brother Sadou served as the country’s prime minister from 1991 to 1992.
