FIFA has banned CAF president Ahmad Ahmad for five years after he was found guilty of various breaches of codes of ethics between 2017 and 2019.
Scroll through gallery above to see all candidates for the CAF presidency elections.
The adjudicatory chamber of the independent Ethics Committee has banned Ahmad for breaches of duty of loyalty, offering and accepting gifts or other benefits, abuse of position, and misappropriation of funds, a FIFA statement confirmed.
You can read the full statement below:
Ahmad had been the president of CAF, and vice-president of FIFA, since 17 March 2017.
CAF are yet to respond to the news, and it remains to be seen what this means for the elections of the new CAF president, which were scheduled for 12 March 2021.
Mamelodi Sundowns president Patrice Motsepe's candidacy was confirmed by South African Football Association (SAFA) president Danny Jordaan and Minister of Sport Nathi Mthethwa in an official press conference earlier in November.
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Ahmad had also confirmed he wanted to run for a second term after describing his first four years as a "successful" reign under his leadership.
Motsepe has since been backed by Sierra Leone, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Nigeria, but will face competition from Jacques Anouma, of the Ivory Coast Football Federation (FIF), Augustin Senghor, who is president of Senegal FA (FSF), and the head of the Mauritanian federation (FFRIM), Ahmed Yahya.
