Issa Hayatou | |
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President of FIFA Acting |
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In office 8 October 2015 – 26 February 2016 |
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President | Sepp Blatter (Suspended) |
Preceded by | Sepp Blatter (banned) |
Succeeded by | Gianni Infantino |
Senior Vice President of FIFA | |
Assumed office 3 July 1992 |
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President |
João Havelange Sepp Blatter Gianni Infantino |
Preceded by | General Mostafa |
President of CAF | |
Assumed office 10 March 1988 |
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Preceded by | Abdel Halim Mohammad |
Member of International Olympic Committee | |
Assumed office 16 July 2001 |
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Preceded by | List |
Personal details | |
Born |
Garoua, French Cameroons |
9 August 1946
Nationality | Cameroonian |
Occupation |
Sportsperson (retired) Football administrator |
Issa Hayatou (born 9 August 1946) is a Cameroonian former athlete and sports executive. He served as the acting FIFA president until 26 February 2016 as the previous president, Sepp Blatter, was banned from all football-related activities in 2015 as a part of the FIFA corruption investigation of 2015. He has been the president of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) since 1988. In 2002, he ran for president of FIFA but was defeated by Blatter. He is also a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
In November 2010 he was alleged by the BBC to have taken bribes in the 1990s regarding the awarding of World Cup television rights. The IOC has announced it will investigate him. Following the 2015 FIFA corruption case, Hayatou took charge of FIFA, as the acting president, until 26 February 2016 when Gianni Infantino was elected to the position.
Hayatou is the fifth president of the Confederation of African Football. He was born in Garoua, Cameroon, the son of a local Sultan, and became a middle distance runner and physical education teacher. Hayatou had a successful career as an athlete, becoming a member of the Cameroonian national squads in both Basketball and Athletics, and holding national record times in the 400 and 800-meter running.
He is married with four children. The Hayatou family are traditional holders of the sultanate (Lamidat, from the Sokoto Caliphate's traditional Fula title Lamine) of Garoua. Hayatou was son of the reigning sultan, and many relatives have acceded to powerful positions in Cameroonian society. Most notable is Issa's brother Sadou Hayatou, a former Prime Minister of Cameroon and longtime high official under Cameroon president Paul Biya, who is among those tapped to succeed him in the future. The Hayatou family continue to wield much political influence in northern Cameroon.
In 1974, aged just 28, he became Secretary General of the Cameroon Football Association, and Chair of the FA in 1986. As chair, he was chosen the same year to sit on the CAF Executive Committee. Following the retirement of Ethiopia's Ydnekatchew Tessema from the CAF presidency in August 1987, Hayatou was elected as the fifth president in the body's history.