Waberi and Yahya beat Amaju Pinnick by one vote to win election into FIFA Council
Defeated FIFA Council member Amaju Pinnick, must be wondering where it all went wrong as he lost his bid to be reelected into the prestigious FIFA Executive Council to Djibouti’s Souleiman Waberi and Mauritania Amed Yahya.
It will be painful for the former president of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), who lost his re-election by just one vote.
Waberi and Yahya the last of the five Africans, was elected into the FIFA Council, got 29 votes each while Pinnick got 28 votes
Pinnick failed to secure the required votes to earn a slot among the members for Africa on the council.
The sixth African on the council, Patrice Mostsepe, qualified automatically since he is the president of CAF.
Elected members are Faouzi Lekjaa of Morocco 49 votes, Hamidou Djibrilla of Niger 35 votes and Egypt’s Hani Abo Rida 35 votes.
The two others are Mauritania’s Ahmed Yahya 29 votes, and Waberi 29 votes.
Pinnick had just one vote less than Yahya and Waberi who clinched the final two slots.
The FIFA council is the principal decision-making organ of the federation in the intervals of the FIFA Congress.
The council is comprised of 37 members elected by the FIFA Congress for a renewable term of four years.
Pinnick was the third Nigerian elected into the FIFA council after Oyo Orok Oyo and Amos Adamu.
He was elected into the council in March 2021 at the 43rd CAF ordinary general assembly in Rabat, Morocco.
Pinnick was a two-term president of the NFF between 2014 and 2022 and was replaced by Ibrahim Gusau.
Earlier, Patrice Motsepe was re-elected as CAF president for a second term.
Waberi who defeated Pinnick, is a Djiboutian football administrator who served as President of the Djibouti Football Federation (DFF) from 2012 to 2024.
In December 2024 he was re-elected unopposed for another four-year term in office and he is currently serving as the CAF's 3rd Vice-President.
He has been actively involved with the Council of East and Central Africa Football Associations (CECAFA).
In late September 2024, Waberi, along with other prominent figures, was placed in custody and investigated for potential embezzlement of public funds and money laundering. He was released on October 1st, but the investigation continues
