An African proverb says that the tortoise is always in the news but for the wrong reason. This is the position Africa’s football governing body, CAF has chosen to be taking in the past one year.

For the second time in seven months, CAF has been in the news, not for promoting the game in the continent but rather for dragging the game into dispute..

It is worthy to mention that under Cameroonian administrator Issa Hayatou, the longest serving president of CAF was stable and scandal free.

The major minus football stakeholders held against Hayatou was his inability to move the body beyond the level he inherited it from his successor, Ethiopia’s Yidnekatchew Tessema who

led the body for 15 years, from 1972-1987.

In his 29 years as CAF president, Hayatou maintained the status quo of running the continent’s flagship competition without much innovation.

Credit must however, go to him for introducing the women’s version of the Nations Cup and the women’s version of club competitions.

These competitions ran seamlessly but soon both countries and clubs’ started feeling the pinch of financial strains. Sometimes they withdrew from qualifying competitions for lack of money to prosecute their campaigns.

When CAF under Hayatou started losing face among its member nations, moves to kick him out of office crystallized in 2017 when Ahmad Ahmad, from Madagascar, was elected to replace him.

Ahmad’s tenure was as colourless as the man himself that his colleagues didn’t allow him finish his first term when he was impeached with less than a year to go.

Constant Omari from Congo stepped in to finish Ahmad’s tenure and supervise the election in 2021 which brought in South African billionaire businessman, Patrice Motsepe, the first from the Anglophone zone. Motsepe easily fitted into the continent’s football business, himself being a major stakeholder who ran a successful foot- ball club in South Africa, Mamelodi Sundowns.

Motsepe, no doubt has brought sunshine into CAF by leading a financial revolution which has hugely reversed years of heavy losses and shifted the organization toward self-sustainability.

Under Motsepe, CAF, which inherited debts and deficits close to $150 million, has been able to instill strict fiscal management that has helped CAF generate a net profit of about $11 million.

The same CAF which wasn’t buoyant enough under Hayatou suddenly recorded huge growth with its annual revenue hitting about $166 million, majorly from commercial partners which increased from a handful to 16 major corporate sponsors.

With a huge bank account, CAF was able to introduce unprecedented prize money across African club and national team competitions. For the records, the total prize money for the AFCON champions was initially increased from $5 million to $7 million, and eventually raised to $10 million.

CAF Champions League and Confederation Cup winner’s prize money grew to $6 million and $4 million respectively.

The women were not left out too. The WAFCON champions which hitherto didn’t earn any prize money started with $500,000, moved to $1million and it was doubled to $2 million by the 2026 edition.

Member Associations also got grants for administrative purposes and grassroots development while clubs, apart from get- ting prize money, also got grants to keep them afloat.

For all these, Motsepe received accolades for breathing life into African football such that some stakeholders were suggesting he continued after his second term expires in 2029.

Being human, the South African is beginning to make one blunder too many as he seems to be losing grip of the body he had successfully steered from austerity to prosperity in five years. Our leaders say in our local parlance that “na small sh*t dey spoil yansh”. Meaning that small mistakes toward the end of a glorious run taints credible achievements.

The first blight on Motsepe’s white linen was the controversial AFCON final where Senegal’s Teranga Lions who were crowned champions on the pitch were dethroned in the boardroom weeks after they had celebrated back home.

They have refused to return the trophy, medals and prize money. They appealed the decision by CAF, which made Africa a laughing stock around the world, to the Court of Arbitration for Sports, CAS.

Just about a week when CAS would deliver its judgment on Senegal’s appeal, Africa again woke up to another bizarre decision on the women’s game.

To refresh your minds, Nigerian women’s league champions, Edo Queens football club were involved in the 2026 WAFU Zone B Champions League final in Burkina Faso and they beat Ampem Darkoa Ladies from Ghana on penalties after they tied 2-2 at full time and were awarded the trophy and ticket for the Champions League proper.

Weeks after they returned home and were celebrated, the Ghanaian team protested, claiming the match should have gone into 30 minutes of extra-time before the penalty shoot-out. To the chagrin of Nigerians, CAF upheld Ampen Darkoa’s protest and stripped Edo Queens of their WAFU Zone B title and annulled their penalty shootout victory, ordering extra-time replay.

Bizzare I dare say. Who erred? Edo Queens or the match officials? Why didn’t the Ghanaian team protest right there and point out the competition’s regulation to the ‘ignorant’ referee or the Match Commissioner who was there too.

Did Edo Queens force the Ampem Darkoa Ladies into playing the penalties? If Ampem Dankoa had won the penalty shoot-out, would they have protested to CAF? This Wednesday, CAS is expected to rule on Senegal’s appeal. If they win, CAF should hide its face in shame.

Kudos to the NFF for protesting the CAF decision on Edo Queens. They should be supported by the Edo State Football Association to follow it up, if necessary, with an appeal to CAS.

Motsepe should not soil the records he has achieved in five years with blunders which ridicules African football.