CAF President Ahmad gets FIFA ban reduced by CAS

The Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) has reduced a ban imposed on CAF President, Ahmad Ahmad, by football’s world governing body, FIFA, from five years to two years following his appeal.

CAS published an urgent ruling without giving detailed reasons following the conclusion of a two-day hearing held last week by video link.

Ahmad’s fine was also reduced $220,000 (about 205,500 Swiss Francs) to $53,520 (50,000 Swiss Francs).

In November last year, Ahmad was sanctioned by FIFA for financial misconduct and other ethical violations after an inquiry concluded he breached codes relating to duty of loyalty, offering and accepting gifts, abuse of position as well as misappropriation of funds.

Despite the development, Ahmad will not be eligible to contest the election for CAF President later this week as he needed to be completely exonerated of the charges against him.

This puts South Africa’s Patrice Motsepe in pole position of becoming the next Confederation of African Football (CAF) President after his rivals Jacques Anouma, Augustin Senghor, and Ahmed Yahya all agreed to withdraw and support his candidacy.

Motsepe is the owner of  2016 African champions, Mamelodi Sundowns

The CAF election is due to be held on March 12 in the Moroccan capital Rabat.