Abedi Fails; Hayatou Retains Post

Former African Footballer of the Year Abedi Pele of Ghana, seeking to become the first high-profile player to win a place on the committee, was beaten 32-20 in his bid to unseat Amos Adamu of Nigeria, who ran last year's All-Africa Games in Abuja.

'I didn't have the money to fight. You can't go on reputation alone,' the former Marseille midfielder said.

Meanwhile, Issa Hayatou was retained as president of the CAF.

At the CAF Congress in Tunis, the 57-year-old Cameroonian won a landslide victory against challenger Ismail Bhamjee of Botswana.

Hayatou won by 46 votes to 6, and his new four-year mandate will extend his leadership of African football until 2008, giving him 20 years in the job.

"Thank you for re-electing me," Hayatou said shortly after his victory.

"I am at your full disposal to serve African football.

"Caf should remain what it is, an African organisation run by by Africans," Hayatou added in apparent reference to his opponent's Indian ancestry.

South Africa-born Bhamjee, the former president of the Botswana Football Association, had earlier called for an end to cliques and racism in Caf in a last-minute appeal to the 52-member congress - but to no avail.

"Only by working together can we best defend African football," Hayatou then explained in his victory speach.

"And now on to football!" the president declared in reference to the Cup of Nations which starts in Tunisia on Saturday.

Hayatou, who was first elected Caf president in 1988, also took time to assure Ismail Bhamjee of his long-lasting friendship.

The presidency was just one of many elections taking place at the congress in the Tunisian capital.

Tunisia's Slim Chiboub won a seat on the Fifa executive committee as one of Africa's four representatives in a boost for his own country's 2010 World Cup ambitions.

He will now be one of the 24 committee members who will decide the host nation for the 2010 World Cup bid on May 15.

Several of Hayatou's loyalists faced tough fights in the battles for seats on the powerful CAF executive committee and there was a surprise defeat for Morocco's Said Belkhayet, beaten by Hany Abu Rida of Egypt.

Former committee member Leo Mugabe of Zimbabwe, who was swept off the committee two years ago with five votes in a re-election bid, fared even worse on Thursday in a four-way battle for the seat from the southern zone of African football.

The nephew of the Zimbabwean president received just two votes in an election won by Suketu Patel of the Seychelles.

'It's no problem, we were in the same camp,' he said afterwards.

In a further development, both the Comores and Zanzibar have been accepted as associate Caf members.