Nyamilandu sticks to guns on Fifa post

Football Association of Malawi (FAM) president Walter Nyamilandu says he will still contest for the Fifa council member post despite Cosafa endorsing South Africa Football Association (Safa) president Danny Jordaan to represent the region.

Council of Southern Africa Football Associations (Cosafa) executive committee voted in favour of Jordaan at a meeting in South Africa at the weekend.

He amassed eight out of the 14 votes, with Nyamilandu getting four and Seychelles FA president Elvis Chetty got two.

But Nyamilandu on Saturday said he will still contest for the position at Confederation of African Football (CAF) extra-ordinary meeting in Cairo, Egypt on September 30.

He said: “I am not discouraged by the marginal four-vote difference. I am contesting for the Fifa position. I have advised Fifa Congress that I am not withdrawing my candidature.”

This means Nyamilandu will face Jordaan and two other candidates Uganda FA president Moses Hassim Magogo and Leodgar Tenga, a former Tanzania FA president who is a CAF executive committee member.

Nyamilandu was confident that he can win, saying apart from Cosafa, he has support from other CAF zones.

“I have support within Cosafa and that support is sufficient to see me through. It’s better for the best candidate to win and the spirit of fair competition must prevail. The best candidate will be able to amass sufficient votes from other zones and not only from Cosafa,” he said.

The winner will replace former Ghana Football Association (GFA) president Kwesi Nyantakyi who resigned from all his positions at Fifa, CAF, West Africa Football Union (Wafu) and GFA after investigative journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas exposed him taking bribes to influence the offer of an invitation of players to the national team.

CAF currently has seven members on the Fifa general council, including Fifa vice-president Ahmad Ahmad, who is also president of the CAF and general secretary Fatma Samoura (Senegal).