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Patrice Motsepe came to the Confederation of African Football in March 2021 with a specific promise: clean up an organization that had spent years bleeding trust.
He delivered, at least on paper. CAF posted a net profit of $9.5 million in the 2023-24 financial year, reversing a $9.2 million loss the year before. The Morocco edition of the Africa Cup of Nations attracted 23 sponsors, triple the number at the 2021 Cameroon tournament.
TotalEnergies SE signed on as title sponsor. By the numbers, Motsepe had built something that looked, finally, like a functional governing body.
Then came the ruling.
Two months after Senegal won the Africa Cup of Nations final against host Morocco on Jan. 18, CAF's appeals board stripped the title from Senegal and handed it to Morocco, declaring a 3-0 forfeit.
The decision traced back to a walkoff. Senegal's coach and players left the pitch after officials disallowed a goal and awarded Morocco a penalty. When play resumed, Senegalese midfielder Pape Gueye scored the match's only goal.
CAF ruled that the walkoff itself constituted a forfeit under its statutes and wiped the result clean.
Senegal's government did not hold back. It called for an independent investigation into what it described as "suspicions of corruption within CAF leadership," a remarkable statement that went directly at the body Motsepe runs.
Abdoulaye Fall, president of the Senegalese Football Federation, announced an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne, the de facto supreme court for sports disputes. "You cannot let a match be played to the end on the pitch and then overturn it two months later," he said.
Motsepe responded in a video posted to X, describing the controversy as evidence of a gap he is still working to close.
"It undermines the good work that CAF has done over many, many years to ensure that there's integrity, that there's respect, that there's ethics, that there's governance, as well as credibility of the results of our football matches," he said. He called the fallout "a legacy issue."
Beverley Agbakoba-Onyejianya, a Lagos-based sports attorney and arbitrator, said the episode undercuts the commercial case CAF has worked hard to build.
"Capital is important but what drives investment is trust and integrity," she said. "That's what you take to the bank."
The legal ground is contested. Under Law 5 of the International Football Association Board rules, the referee on the field holds authority over play decisions. The referee in this case chose to let the game continue. CAF's appeals board decided that choice did not override the forfeit provision in its own statutes.
Morocco, which invested more than $1 billion upgrading and building stadiums and is preparing to co-host the 2030 FIFA World Cup with Spain and Portugal, welcomed the ruling. The Moroccan Football Federation said it sought only to ensure the tournament's rules were respected.
Motsepe built the profit. He tripled the sponsors. He is now being tested on whether the institution he reformed can withstand scrutiny when the results, not just the finances, are in question.
