The President of the Confederation of African Football, Patrice Motsepe, has revealed that concrete steps are already being taken to prevent a repeat of the controversies that marred the recent Africa Cup of Nations final.
Speaking during a working visit to Morocco, Motsepe said CAF has begun implementing key reforms aimed at tightening regulations and improving decision-making processes on match day.
“We’ve already implemented some of the changes and resolutions to make sure that what happened on the final day doesn’t happen again,” Motsepe said.
Motsepe acknowledged that the contentious nature of the final exposed gaps within existing regulations, particularly those highlighted by legal experts.
“It’s interesting when lawyers say some of those things were not foreseen by the rules. These are lawyers who work for FIFA at the highest level, so we learned to identify areas where we could have done things differently and better. We already did a lot of good work.”
According to the CAF president, while some of the proposed reforms will require ratification at the body’s Ordinary General Assembly—where all 54 member associations are represented—others are already being executed through the Executive Committee.
“Some of those changes would have to go the Ordinary General Assembly, but others we’re implementing through the Exco,” Motsepe explained.
The reforms come at a critical time for African football, as CAF seeks to rebuild trust and reinforce the credibility of its competitions. The fallout from the disputed final, which saw Morocco crowned champions, remains unresolved, with the case currently under review by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
