Every Caf President since the formation of the organization in 1957

The role of Caf President has been filled by just seven men in the 64 years of its history with Patrice Motsepe to become the eighth person to fill the role, and the seventh to be elected to the post.

African football bosses

Egypt’s Abdelaziz Abdallah Salem, an engineer by trade, was the first Caf President, taking office in 1957 and serving in the role until the following year. Salem was President of the Egyptian Football Association from 1952 to 1959 and also the first African member of the FIFA Executive Committee.

Salem was succeeded by compatriot Abdel Aziz Moustafa, who served in the role for close to ten years between 1958 and 1968. He was the first Caf president to earn the honorary presidency for life.

Sudan’s Abdel Halim Muhammad served as Caf President twice, first taking office in 1968 for a term that lasted four years, then returning to the role 15 years later.

During those 15 years Caf was in the hands of Ethiopia’s Yidnekatchew Tessema. Yidnekatchew was a former footballer and is considered a pioneer of the game in Ethiopia and Africa as a whole. He was also member of the African Sport Congress, International Olympics Committee, FIFA and President of the African Olympics Committee. His 15-year reign had been the longest until the epic tenure of Issa Hayatou.

Cameroon’s Hayatou took charge after Salem’s second term as Caf President and spent nearly 30 years at the head of African football. Hayatou’s long reign has since been tainted by allegations of corruption.

His successor Ahmad Ahmad would be the first sitting Caf President to be implicated in corruption and during his suspension from his role the DRC’s Constant Omari served as acting president.

In 2021, Motsepe was elected as President, with the South African billionaire tasked with getting Caf’s house in order after a prolonged period of alleged maladministration.

List of every Caf President

Presidency	Name	Took office	Left office	Tenure	Nationality
1	Abdel Aziz Abdallah Salem	1957	1958	0–1	Egypt
2	Abdel Aziz Moustafa	1958	1968†	9–10	Egypt
3	Abdel Halim Muhammad	1968	1972†	3–4	Sudan
4	Yidnekatchew Tessema	1972	18 August 1987†	15 years, 229 days	Ethiopia
5	Abdel Halim Muhammad	18 August 1987	10 March 1988‡	205 days	Sudan
6	Issa Hayatou	10 March 1988	16 March 2017	29 years, 6 days	Cameroon
7	Ahmad Ahmad	16 March 2017	23 November 2020	3 years, 252 days	Madagascar
Acting	Constant Omari	23 November 2020	29 January 2021	67 days	Democratic Republic of the Congo
7	Ahmad Ahmad	29 January 2021[2]	12 March 2021	41 days	Madagascar
8	Patrice Motsepe	12 March 2021[3]	Incumbent		South Africa

^† Indicates that the title of Honorary President was conferred upon leaving office.

^‡ Acted for a transitional period from 18 August 1987 following Tessema’s death in Addis Ababa due to illness, until 10 March 1988 when the general assembly was held in Casablanca and Issa Hayatou was elected president of CAF.

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