Former CAF President Issa Hayatou Dies At 77; Gusau, Infantino Mourn

Former president of the Confederation of African Football (CAF), Issa Hayatou, has passed away at the age of 77.\r\n\r\nThe football administrator, who was a key figure in African football for decades, died in Paris on Thursday, August 8, 2024, a day before his 78th birthday.\r\n\r\nHe was a former 400m and 800m champion of Cameroon, who served as President of CAF between 10th March 1988 – 16th March 2017.\r\n\r\nHayatou, who served as Secretary of the Federation Cameroonaise de Football (FECAFOOT) in the 1970s, was elected CAF President on the margin of the 1988 Africa Cup of Nations finals in Morocco, to take office from interim boss, Dr Abdelhalim Mohamed, who had stepped in the previous year following the death of Dr. Ydnekatchew Tessema.\r\n\r\nPresident of Nigeria Football Federation, Alhaji Ibrahim Musa Gusau, commiserated with the Cameroonian football fraternity and the African football family as a whole, following the death on Thursday of former President of Confederation of African Football, Alhaji Issa Hayatou.\r\n\r\n“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.\r\n\r\n“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, nay African football family the fortitude to bear the loss.”