Although the
pioneers of the African Football Confederation upheld a common firm stand on the issues of the struggle
against Apartheid, as well as on ensuring the Continent's rightful place in
the prestigious F.I.F.A. World Cup; they also had their own internal disagreements.
These infightings were for equitable distribution of powers and benefits
within C.A.F., and had lasted a long fifteen years, if not more!
It all started
at
the second Congress held in Stockholm, on the occasion of the 1958 World
Cup, where General Mustafa of Egypt was elected President of the
Confederation replacing his country man Abdelaziz Salem, and another Egyptian
Mustafa Kamel Mansour, was appointed Secretary General, replacing Sudanese
Youssef Mohammed. With Egypt and the Sudan voting for one another,
this congress also delegated Sudanese Dr. Abdel Halim, to represent Africa in the
F.I.F.A. Executive Committee.
Yidnekatchew, at the World Cup, in Stockholm 58.
The
second Congress of the Confederation was held in the temporary office of
the F.I.F.A. Secretary General at the time.
With
the apparent intent
of
frustrating
any future attempt to correct this injustice; the Congress went further and adopted a strange article introduced by
Egypt and the Sudan, which stipulated; "The headquarters and the General
Secretary of the Confederation should be in the country of the
President". Though unhappy with these excluding arrangements, Yidnekatchew
Tessema, could not challenge, the majority vote of the two, in the
Congress of three.
Moreover,
Yidnekatchew's, repeated complaints on
excessive negligence in the secretariats during the first three years
of the Confederation,
were unheeded. The first in Khartoum had lost the historic
documents of the founding Congress and the second in Cairo existed only
in name.
Egyptian,
Mustafa Kamel Mansour,
the Secretary General appointed in
Stockholm 1958,
failed to appear, at the scheduled third Congress in Rome,1960.
Yidnekatchew, Halim and Mustafa Kamel Mansour
Thus at the fourth Congress
in
Cairo1961,
Yidnekatchew proposed the Headquarters
of the Confederation
be moved
to Addis Ababa.
Further to the
main objective of ensuring a responsible Secretariat; his
proposal was also the
first
effort for equitable distribution of duties, powers and benefits in
the Confederation. Yidnekatchew hoped new members Ghana and
Tunisia would support this logical proposal, but for reasons of
election politics, they preferred not to challenge the status quo.
The 4th
Congress.
In his recollection of important events published on the occasion of
the 25th anniversary of the Confederation, (C.A.F.
NEWS No.14 of September 1982); Yidnekatchew remembered that
this attempt
to move the Headquarters to Addis Ababa upset his Egyptian Colleagues;
"As a
result", he says, "General Mustafa and Eng. Mourad Fahmy (both from
Egypt), were elected President and Secretary General respectively;
while the
representatives
of new comers Tunisia and Ghana were unanimously
voted in as members, I won the third seat
in the Executive Committee
by a narrow 3-2 majority.
I nearly disappeared from the Confederation as Egypt and the
Sudan retaliated by
denying me their votes
".
At
this point in time, the infant Confederation was a small
and poor Association, organizing
only the biannual Nations cup tournament; but, the pioneers
were well aware of its potential to grow into an important Continental body.
Egypt was therefore, understandably determined not to give away the
headquarters. However, Ethiopia's very demand to move the headquarters to
Addis Ababa, was a very useful wakeup call; the President of the Confederation,
General Mustafa, and the new General Secretary, Engineer Mourad Fahmy,
ensured the headquarters in Cairo were provided with a rent free office
by the Egyptian Football Association, and
also convinced the National Olympic Committee,
to grant
annual financial assistance for the day to day operational expenses of
the Secretariat.
The
Headquarters remained in Cairo
A year later, the 1962 congress in
Addis Ababa,
witnessed a closely contested election for Africa’s new
Vice Presidency chair in F.I.F.A..
between General Mustafa and Yidnekatchew
Tessema.
It was known before the elections that Kenya
and Uganda were for Yidnekatchew, while Tunisia and
the Sudan were sure
votes for General Mustafa, therefore, both had to court Ghana which
had the decisive vote.
In the end, it was the political alliance between President Nkrumah of Ghana and
President Nasser
of Egypt that had the final say on the outcome of this election, the representative of Ghana at
this meeting, received instructions from
Accra to vote for Egypt; making General Mustafa
Africa’s first Vice President in F.I.F.A.. In the second contest for
Africa's second F.I.F.A. Executive membership; Yidnekatchew and Ghanaian Ohene Djan
were the candidates, General Mustafa and his supporters reciprocated
by voting for Mr. Djan. Yidnekatchew lost 4-3 in
both elections, but got a bigger
consolation in Ethiopia's victory of the third African
Cup of Nations.
Ethiopia
wins the 3rd African Cup.
After these
elections in Addis Ababa, Egypt had grabbed more or less all positions and
benefits then available in the Continental association. In addition to the
headquarters and the Secretary General which were already
attached to the Presidency by the statutes adopted in Stockholm 1958;
Egypt also took the F.I.F.A. Vice Presidency for Africa.
This
inconsiderate attitude was not going to be helpful to peace and unity
in the then five years young organization; as can be seen in the paragraphs
below, it become the cause for all the unnecessary, but extremely
detractive
infightings witnessed in the
following ten years.
The registration
of newly liberated African countries
from 1962 to 1963, dramatically
increased the number of member associations of the Confederation to
twenty nine. General Mustafa was quick to react to this new development;
he obtained the support of the
Egyptian Government, to pay travel and accommodation expenses for
twenty three delegates that registered to attend the 1963 Congress in Cairo. The issue of
equitable power distribution could not possibly be on the agenda of
this fully sponsored meeting.
Nevertheless,
considering the huge increase in the number of member associations,
Yidnekatchew Tessema proposed the creation of six zones, which shall
each be entitled to two representatives in the Executive committee.
This amendment of the statutes was first adopted with out opposition.
The
Executive.
However,
during the first meeting of the Executive committee in
Cairo, in July of 1964, General Secretary, Engineer Mourad
Fahmy said "the Confederation's finances can not support travel and
accommodation expenses for the enlarged Executive Committee". The Committee acknowledged that its meetings were beyond the finances of
the Confederation, but did not want to backtrack on the decision of
the Congress. It therefore ruled out dissolving the Committee as a
wrong option, which would entail unconstitutional delegation of its
powers to the President, and decided that future meetings take
place on the occasions of the African Cup Nations, the World Cups and
the Olympic games; to which members' travel expenses are covered by
their respective National Associations.
Before the next meeting in Tokyo,1964, Africa had requested one more seat
in the F.I.F.A. Executive; although there was still no written
confirmation from
F.I.F.A., Sudanese Karrar and Ethiopian Yidnekatchew Tessema run for
the tentative third Executive spot.
Yidnekatchew won this specific election, but, the representative of
Secretary General Mourad Fahmy inexplicably disappeared with the ballot papers!!
Sir Stanley’s F.I.F.A. also refused the additional place after the
winner was known! The internal division was no more concealable.
In Tunis, 1965, another challenging demand by the Algerian representative, Dr. Mohammed Maouche,
calling for a review of the the organizational structures of the
Confederation, was endorsed
by the Congress. Subsequently, a commission chaired by
Yidnekatchew Tessema, and consisting of Dr. Maouche (Algeria), Mr. Hagan
(Ghana) and Mourad Fahmy (Egypt); was set up to study the structures. The
commission pinpointed that the 1958 Stockholm provision had
effectively blocked proper restructuring and recommended the establishment of six
empowered standing committees as temporary partial resolutions to the
underlying chronic problem.
The congress held during the World Cup in England, 1966 took
note of
the recommendations in their entirety, and endorsed immediate
establishment of the six standing committees. Yidnekatchew Tessema was elected President
of the most important of these committees, "the organizing Committee
of C.A.F. competitions". Ghanaian Ohene Djan, who could not come to
this congress due to the travel ban imposed on him by the leaders of
the military junta, that deposed renowned Pan Africanist, Kwame
Nkrumah, was replaced by Yidnekatchew as Africa's representative
in the F.I.F.A. Executive Committee.
With ever increasing members from newly liberated
African countries questioning the validity of the law that attached
the
headquarters and the Secretary
General, to the home city of the President,
the
demand for reform continued to gain momentum.
Well aware of the tide, General Mustafa, the uncontested President of
the Confederation for ten years; was neither a candidate for
the election scheduled one year before the end of his third term and
on a platform that did not acknowledge the 1958 Stockholm provision, nor did he appear
at the General Assembly held in Addis
Ababa, in 1968. Dr. Ahmed Bakr,
the representative of Egypt at this Congress first submitted his candidature for
the Presidency, but withdrew at the last minute in favour of the only
other candidate, Dr. Abdel Halim Mohammed from the Sudan. In a
significant departure from tradition, Halim was elected with
acclamation, becoming the first non Egyptian President of the
Confederation.
The 1968
Conference in Addis Ababa.
Despite all indications of a sure win situation in these elections, Yidnekatchew
Tessema preferred not to run for the Presidency; he was content with
maintaining the less controversial, first Vice Presidency, together
with the all important Presidency of the tournaments organizing committee
of the Confederation; while at the same time confirming his seat in the F.I.F.A. Executive,
where he believed he had some unfinished businesses for the African
cause.
General
Mustafa and Yidnekatchew maintain their seats in the F.I.F.A.
Executive.
But two years after these elections, the constituency protested
that Dr Halim was not doing much towards the promised reforms. Thus, during the
seventh edition of the Nations Cup in the Sudan 1970, twenty member associations signed
a petition demanding the establishment of a special committee for
thorough review and amendment of the statutes. Yidnekatchew Tessema
was again elected chairman of this committee which included, Dr. Maouche
(Algeria), Hamici (Congo Kinshasa), Karrar (Sudan), Matthia (Togo), Mwade Wade (Senegal), and Chief Mensah (Ghana).
Khartoum
1970.
Considering the
noticeable interference by some
elements from within and outside of the continent, who were striving
to exploit this misunderstanding to further divide and weaken the
Confederation, and thereby disrupt the necessary unity for the then nearly accomplished tasks of
expelling Apartheid South Africa from F.I.F.A., and achieving Africa's
rightful places in the global body, Yidnekatchew
Tessema,
preferred not to publicize
the works of the Ad-Hoc Committee.
The situation was handled as
an internal problem of the African Football Confederation that can
only be resolved by its own general meeting.
Accordingly, the new statutes,
quietly and cautiously, drafted
by this Ad-Hoc committee,
were submitted to the Congress in Yaoundé, 1972. The assembly refused
to discuss the amendments in detail and again empowered
Yidnekatchew to preside over a new sub-committee entrusted with double
checking the recommended changes. This committee worked until four
o'clock in the morning and presented the final version to the Congress
the next day.
Sir
Stanley openly supported Dr. Halim during the elections in Yaoundé,
1972.
The Congress in turn worked until five O'clock in the morning and
adopted the new constitution of the Confederation.
After two sleepless nights, the legislative for the first time asserted that it is in effect the
supreme authority of the Confederation. The members elected
Yidnekatchew Tessema to the Presidency of the Confederation, but gave the
African chair in the F.I.F.A. Executive, to Dr. Halim. Egypt maintained
the headquarters together with the African vice Presidency in
F.I.F.A... This position is now the automatic prerogative of the
President of the Confederation...
Yidnekatchew takes the Presidency from Dr.Halim.
Yidnekatchew Tessema, later
remarked, that
the members acted more like judges than electors, equitably distributing the
powers. Nonetheless,
he said, the resolutions of this Congress were testimony to the
maturity of the oldest African institution.
As can be seen
in the above paragraphs, although he himself was the Confederation's
second in command from 1963 onwards, the General assembly still
trusted Yidnekatchew Tessema, with the chairmanship of the two reform
committees established in 1965 and 1970. These are proof to the fact
that he was the de facto leader of African football long before his election to the
Presidency in 1972. The reforms introduced by these two committees had
irreversibly changed the Confederation into a participatory
institution. All member associations were thereafter entitled to
contest all powers and benefits available in the Confederation.
Yidnekatchew Tessema did not inherit a ready made Confederation; peace
in the Confederation and total focus on the overall developmental
works of the Continent's football, prevailed only after this historic
Congress in Yaoundé 1972.
This is why he is still viewed by connoisseurs of the Confederation's
history, as the most successful African
football leader; who had resolved all early detractive problems and directed
total focus towards the development of the game, not only for his era, but also, for the future of
the continent's most popular sport.
The
pioneers celebrated the 25th anniversary of the Confederation, in
Cairo.
It must be said here, that the differences due to this
lengthy and detractive controversy; were confined to
conference tables. The pioneers had always maintained enviable, mutual
respect and brotherhood in their personal relationships.
The
friendship included their families.
In the following years, the continuous
inclusion of newly liberated African countries strengthened the
Confederation's
position in the F.I.F.A. congresses, but, this positive development was accompanied by
the undesirable by-product of Colonialism; the division between
Arab Africa, Francophone Africa and Anglophone Africa,
maintaining the "One Africa" motto began to be more
and more complicated. This was,
and still is,
a challenge to unity in African football.
In a 1987 tribute to then deceased Yidnekatchew Tessema, journalist
Abdelmeguid NOOMAN, of Cairo News Paper “EL Akhbar”, had this to say
on the issue:- "African and Egyptian football lost one of the greatest
pioneers with the passing away of Yidnekatchew Tessema. Due to him,
African football met International fame and recognition. With his
wisdom and hard work he succeeded in gathering Africa, which was
divided into French, English and Arabic speaking groups, to one united
sporting continent!!”
C.A.F.; the beginning.
C.A.F.; early dispute with
F.I.F.A. on the issue of Apartheid.
C.A.F.; the intrusion of the
Supreme Council for Sports in Africa.
C.A.F.; evolution of the African
Nations Cup.
C.A.F.; the battle for its
rightful place in F.I.F.A..
C.A.F.; preserving history.
C.A.F.; Yidnekatchew Tessema and
the current leadership of CAF.
C.A.F.; against Tobacco
advertisement.
C.A.F.; the 16 Nations final.
Back to home page Yidnekatchew
Tessema.
