Issa Hayatou departs on the eve of his birthday

Former CAF President, Issa Hayatou has passed away aged on the eve of his 78th birthday, reports from varied sources have said.

The Legendary football administrator died this August 8 in France after a protracted illness that had seen his death announced a few months ago.

Hayatou, former president of CAF and leader of the institution for 29 years before he was voted out in February 2017 was widely considered as the best CAF leader of all-time.

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 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.

The African Cup of Nations finals expanded from 8 to 16 teams, in a confederation of over 50 nations in six zones and five regional confederations.

Club competitions have 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.

Upon retirement he was board chair of the Cameroon national football Academy (ANAFOOT) until is demise.

He leaves behind friends, family and the entire football community to mourn him.

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