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RABAT. — Patrice Motsepe completed his fairytale journey, when he took over as CAF president here yesterday, with the South African billionaire pledging to “make African football among the best in the world”.

The 59-year-old was confirmed the new leader of African football, just after 1pm yesterday, at the 43rd CAF General Assembly.

He was elected unopposed as part of a deal reached in the past month which saw opposition candidates Augustin Senghor of Senegal‚ Mauritanian Ahmed Yahya and Jacques Anouma of Ivory Coast withdraw from the race.

FIFA president, Gianni Infantino, who brokered the deals, stressed the importance of “team spirit” to project African football to the top of the world, in his address, to the assembly.

“We know the values of football, but the most important value is team spirit. This is the team spirit that we have witnessed these days in Africa,’’ he said.

“I have already said it, and I say it again. We must stop saying that it is necessary to develop African football. It is about projecting it to the summit of world football.

“The time for talking has stopped. We must move on, and we must move on as a team: as a CAF team and a FIFA team that also includes all the confederations and associations from all over the world. You are CAF. You are FIFA.”

Speaking moments after the confirmation of his presidency‚ Motsepe said that he had taken note of the financial reports, presented at the assembly, which expressed the losses made by CAF, in 2020‚ and need for economic reform.

“Let me start by saying it’s a huge honour and a huge privilege for me‚” Motsepe said.

“And, we spent the morning hearing the challenges that confront African football. And I’ll talk later about what all of us can and will do together.”

Motsepe thanked Infantino for his role in uniting African football.

“We can only deal with the challenges of Africa — and we will succeed — but we will only do so when we are united‚” Motsepe said.

He also thanked the CAF executive committee.

“And with you‚ and with every one of the member association presidents and the leadership we have in Africa‚ the leadership we have in every country‚ it is that leadership that gives me confidence and inspires me.

“And, I’m absolutely confident that working together we will indeed succeed to make African football among the best in the world. My brother Senghor‚ my brother Yahya‚ my brother Jacques Anouma‚ thank you so much.

“And, just thanks to the [CAF] staff. You know sometimes we see the failures and the problems and the weaknesses in CAF‚ but we must also focus on the optimistic‚ on the positive.

“(And focus] on a lot of the good work that many of the staff‚ the committees‚ all of these good people‚ the ethics committee‚ all of these structures within CAF that really have excellent people.

“My father [Chief Augustine Motsepe] used to say to me‚ ‘Always remember that you are what you are because of the communities‚ the society your parents’. And, for us in SA, Nelson Mandela would always say that‚ ‘Your democracy was because of the people of Africa’.”

Senghor and Yahya have been offered vice-presidencies under Motsepe‚ and Anouma an advisory role.

Motsepe is a mining magnate with a fortune of US$2.9 billion, according to Forbes.

He is the owner of South African club Mamelodi Sundowns but hasn’t held a role before in regional or even national soccer administration.

He is used to operating in high circles, though, once making a speech alongside Barack Obama, and attending an exclusive meeting of international business leaders hosted by then-President Donald Trump at the World Economic Forum in Davos last year.

“It’s a huge honour and privilege for me [to be CAF president],” said Motsepe.

“The leadership we have in Africa [and] the leadership we have of football in every country gives me confidence and inspires me.

“I am absolutely confident that by working together, we will indeed succeed to make African football not just reach the summit but be amongst the best in the world.

“We want our national teams to win and succeed, some of the meaningful results will take some time but it starts with investment in our youth and infrastructure.

“I will be visiting every single country in Africa in the next 9-12 months because it is important to engage with you in your country, to meet the private sector and political leadership in every country and talk about implementation.”

One of Motsepe’s immediate priorities will be reversing the financial fortunes of CAF, which registered a loss of US$40 million in its reserves between 2019 and 2020.

COSAFA boss, Philip Chiyangwa, who has acted as Motsepe’s campaign manager, was also in Rabat, and said he expects to see big changes.

“It’s no longer a small time, past time thing. Motsepe is big and means serious business,’’ he said.

During the general General Assembly, the 52 members present — with Chad, whose FA was dissolved by the government on Thursday, and Eritrea, the only countries failing to attend — voted to expand the number of CAF vice-presidents, from three to five.

All but one of Africa’s six representatives on the FIFA Council were replaced with Nigeria’s Amaju Pinnick, Morocco’s Faouzi Lekjaa, Sierre Leone’s Isha Johansen, Benin’s Mathurin de Chacus and Mamoutou Toure of Mali joining Egyptian Hany Abo Rida.

“The new team (Motsepe and his leadership allies) needs to double or treble the revenue of CAF,” said Lekjaa, the head of the CAF finance committee.

“I don’t want to be alarmist but the figures . . . . can’t be interpreted any other way.”

After promising a new era of ethical leadership for African soccer on his election in 2017, Ahmad’s reign was one of chaos and mismanagement.

He was banned from football for five years last year for financial misconduct.  The ban was reduced to two years on appeal this week. — BusinessDay/FoxSports/BBC Sport.