- Issa Hayatou died last Friday in France, on the eve of his 78th birthday
- He was CAF president for 29 years and interim FIFA president between 2015 and 2016
- His mortal remains will be brought to Cameroon on Thursday, August 15 and he will be buried in Garoua
The mortal remains of former Confederation of African Football (CAF) president Issa Hayatou will return home this Thursday, August 15, kick442.com has gathered from family sources.
From our sources, Hayatou, who died last Friday in Paris, France after a protracted illness will get into the country via the Nsimalen International Airport before being airlifted to his native Garoua.
Hayatou, who was CAF president for 29 years before quitting in 2017 to give way to Ahmad Ahmad via a hot-blooded elections will be laid to rest this Friday.
The funeral of the 78-year-old will begin on Wednesday, August 14 at the Funerarium Mont Du Valerien in Nante.
The event will proceed on Thursday when his mortal remains arrives at the Nsimalen International Airport at 9pm before heading to his home at the Quartier de Lac for the funeral.
His mortal remains will be flown to Garoua on Friday morning for final rights and burial of the former ANAFOOT board chair.
CAF president, Dr Patrice Motsepe, his Exco members and presidents of member associations of the body are expected to attend the funeral of the fallen hero this week.
Evolution of Hayatou and revolution of football
The Garoua native grew from a physical education tutor to a member of the Cameroon national teams of Basketball and Athletics, before becoming Secretary General and president of his country’s football federation which eventually propelled him to CAF.
President of CAF for almost three decades, he oversaw particularly successful FIFA World Cup appearances by Senegal, Nigeria, and Cameroon, and pushed for African places in the finals to increase from two to five, with the 2010 World Cup in South Africa seeing the hosts garner an automatic sixth spot for an African team.
Hayatou presided over both the bid and the organising committee for the 2010 games, the first in Africa.
Under Hayatou, the African Cup of Nations finals expanded from eight to 16 teams, in a Confederation of 54 nations in six zones and five regional bodies.
Club competitions also underwent a similar growth in both numbers and scale, with more clubs participating in the African Cup of Champions Clubs, the CAF Confederation Cup (begun in 2004 for national cup winners and high-placed league teams), the CAF Cup, and the CAF Super Cup.
Peers, colleagues and friends of the football industry including CAF and FIFA have poured out condolence messages to his family since he passed on four days ago.
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