African football ruling body, CAF, has passed changes to its statutes to bring them into line with modifications at FIFA. During the extraordinary congress held in Morocco on Friday, CAF accepted a variety of technical changes that include dealing with election processes, voting procedures, an age limit of 70 and eligibility checks for committee members. The Confederation of African Football President, Ahmad. / Internet photo It also agreed to reduce the number of standing committees from 20 to 11 but passed a proposal that effectively increases the size of the CAF executive committee from 16 to 23. Following its corruption scandal, Zanzibar was dropped as one of CAF members after deciding its admission had breached the rules. Four months ago, the island - which forms part of Tanzania but plays football autonomously in regional competitions - was admitted as the confederation’s 55th member. “They were admitted without properly looking into our statutes and they are crystal clear,” CAF president Ahmad told the assembly. He noted that, “CAF cannot admit two different associations from one country and the definition of a country comes from the African Union and the United Nations.” FIFA had refused to admit Zanzibar to its ranks following the CAF’s acceptance of its application at a congress held in Addis Ababa in March, where Ahmad won a surprise election to take over as the leader of African soccer. The African soccer confederation’s member’s countries agreed yet again on Friday to introduce an age limit of 70 for top officials and expand ethics check to all members of the executive committee, not just those seeking FIFA positions. This means officials of CAF cannot stand for elected office once they reach the age of 70. editorial@newtimes.co.rw
