Issa Hayatou has been appointed the acting president of FIFA. Sepp Blatter, Michel Platini and Jerome Valcke were suspended for 90 days on Thursday as investigations into football’s governing body continue. Blatter, 79, is suspected of making a “disloyal payment” of two million Swiss francs – around £1.3million – to UEFA president Michel Platini which was “at the expense of FIFA.” All three are banned from all football activity but deny any wrongdoing. Issa Hayatou, who heads Africa’s football confederation (CAF) will act as president during Blatter’s ban.
Hayatou has said he will not be a candidate for the FIFA presidential election come February 2016 but can his interim presidency help usher in an African substantive FIFA president? We’ll see.