A Cloud of Corruption and Collusion Hangs over CAF

An audit of the governing body for soccer in Africa has uncovered millions of dollars of financial irregularities, a development that threatens to bring down its leadership after more than a year of turmoil at the troubled organization. The board of the governing body, the Confederation of African Football, or C.A.F., agreed last year to an independent review of its operations amid accusations of financial wrongdoing made by a group of former senior executives at the Cairo-based organization.  Its president, Ahmad Ahmad, is also the subject of an ethics inquiry by soccer’s global governing body, FIFA, and by the authorities in France. A 55-page report by the accountancy firm PWC, hired to audit the confederation, paints an ugly picture that is likely to lead to demands for swift action against the confederation’s leadership. The auditors found problems across the board, including with the dispensation of millions of dollars of soccer development funds sent to the African soccer body by FIFA. The report said that FIFA had remitted a total of $51 million to the African governing body from 2015 to 2018 and that since then, about $24 million of that amount had been disbursed by African soccer officials.