Former President of the Confederation of African Football (CAF), Issa Hayatou, died on Thursday after a long illness, one day before his 78th birthday.
The Cameroonian served as president of the Confederation of African Football for 29 years, from 1988 until his surprise ouster in 2017.
Tributes have since poured in across the football world, with Fifa president Gianni Infantino describing the late Hayatou as a ‘passionate sports fan’ in a post on Instagram on Thursday evening.
CAF, in a condolence message signed by its president, Patrice Motsepe, hailed Hayatou’s contributions to the growth of African football and requested that the CAF flag and the flags of all CAF Member Associations fly at half-mast for a period of five days, until August 13, 2024.
President of Nigeria Football Federation, Alhaji Ibrahim Musa Gusau, commiserated with the Cameroonian and African football fraternities.
“The NFF and the entire Nigeria football family are terribly saddened by the death of Alhaji Issa Hayatou. He was a great and much-loved leader of African football and did his best to leave African football greater than he met it,” Gusau said.
“Alhaji Hayatou was a man of strong character and integrity. We love him but God loves him more. We pray that Almighty Allah will grant him eternal rest and also grant the Cameroonian, and African football family the fortitude to bear the loss.”
Here are 10 things to know about the late football administrator.
Issa Hayatou was born on August 9, 1946, in Garoua, then part of French Cameroon.
He served as a physical education and sports teacher and teacher coordinator at Lycée Leclerc in Yaoundé from 1973 to 1974. Later, he held the position of National Sports Director from 1982 to 1988.
From 1964 to 1971, he was a national champion in the 400m and 800m, a member of the national basketball team, and a player for the university football team. He also represented the national athletics team at the inaugural African Games in Brazzaville in 1965.
Hayatou held different positions as a sports administrator. He served as Secretary General (1974–1983), Vice President (1984–1986), and President (1986–1988) of the Cameroon Football Federation. He was a member of the CAF Executive Committee and later its President (1988). He joined FIFA’s Executive Committee in 1990, became Vice President in 1992, and chaired various FIFA committees, including the World Cup and Confederations Cup organizing committees. He was also President of the Olympic Football Tournaments Committee (1992–2006) and served on FIFA’s World Cup Organizing Committee and Strategic Studies Commission.
He served as CAF President for 29 years, from 1998 to 2017, and was succeeded by Ahmad Ahmad of Madagascar.
Under his leadership, South Africa achieved a historic milestone by becoming the first African nation to host the FIFA World Cup in 2010, marking a significant moment in the history of African football.
He also served as FIFA’s interim president from October 2015 to February 2016, during Sepp Blatter’s suspension over a bribery scandal.
Hayatou challenged Blatter for the FIFA presidency in 2002 but lost heavily as many African countries deserted him in the vote against the Swiss.
Beyond his contributions to football, Hayatou served as a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) from 2001 to 2020, playing a significant role in global sports governance.
Hayatou was awarded an honorary degree in literature by Ladoke Akintola University of Technology in Ogbomosho, Oyo State, Nigeria, on November 3, 2007.
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