MARRAKECH, March 10 (Xinhua) -- Cameroonian Issa Hayatou was unanimously re-elected on Sunday president of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) for a new term until 2017.
Hayatou, 66, has run unopposed at the 35th ordinary general assembly of the continental body held in Marrakech, central Morocco.
Hayatou was elected for the first time at the head of the African Confederation of 1988 in Morocco, on the sidelines of the African Cup of Nations of football.
Cote d'Ivorian Jacques Anouma wanted to oppose Hayatou at this CAF congress, but a change to the election rules disqualified him.
Anouma's attempt to overturn the decision to disqualify non-executive members from the election was rejected by the Court of Arbitration For Sport (CAS).
CAS ruled Tuesday that the CAF Executive Committee had jurisdiction to refuse Anouma's candidature, that the CAF Statutes adopted in September 2012 were applicable in assessing the validity of the candidates in the presidential election, and that Anouma did not meet these criteria because he had never been a member the CAF Executive Committee.
Hayatou, who already declared that this will be his last contest for the CAF presidency, is the fifth CAF president and by far the longest serving.
His predecessors are Ethiopian Ydnekatchew Tessema, who served 15 years, Egyptian Abdel Aziz Moustafa (10 years), Sudanese Abdel Halim Mohammad (5 years) and Egyptian Abdel Aziz Abdallah Salem (1 year).
Among those who attended the opening were the presidents of the 54 national associations and FIFA President Sepp Blatter.
Blatter hailed Hayatou's leadership of African football over the last quarter of a century, saying African football has become world famous and made commendable strides during this period.
He also commended Morocco for the continued development of its football infrastructure and recent launching of professional league.
The FIFA President added: As a result, Morocco will become the first African nation to host FIFA World Club Cup in December this year and that is in recognition of the enormous work Morocco has undertaken.