Disappointment for Nigeria as Amaju Pinnick falls one-vote short of FIFA Council seat

Former President of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Amaju Pinnick, has lost his attempt to be re-elected to the FIFA Council.

The FIFA Council is the main decision-making body in football, made up of 37 members. These include the FIFA President, eight vice presidents, and 28 other members chosen from different football regions.

Pinnick has been part of the FIFA Council since 2021, when he won an election in Africa. He had hoped to be re-elected for a second term in recent months.

However, his efforts were unsuccessful as he failed to secure one of the five available spots for male representatives during the elections held at the Confederation of African Football (CAF) General Assembly on Wednesday, March 12.

Pinnick was competing against nine other candidates for these five spots. The other candidates included Hany Abou Rida (Egypt), Fouzi Lekjaa (Morocco), Yahya Ahmed (Mauritania), Souleiman Waberi (Djibouti), Idriss Dialli (Ivory Coast), Mathurin Chakus (Benin), Augustine Senghor (Senegal), Djibrilla Pele Hamidou (Niger), and Andrew Kamanga (Zambia).

The five candidates with the most votes were selected. Unfortunately for Pinnick, he lost by just one vote. He received 28 votes, while Waberi and Yahya had 29. Rida and Hamidou both received 35 votes, and Lekjaa had 49 votes. These five will represent Africa on the FIFA Council.

What happens to Nigeria now that Pinnick is no longer part of FIFA? Pinnick was Nigeria’s first representative at FIFA in many years, but his time on the FIFA Council didn’t seem to bring much change for Nigeria. Also, Africa’s spot in the FIFA Women’s World Cup has recently been reduced from five to four teams.

Aside from the prestige of holding a seat at FIFA, Pinnick’s presence didn’t bring much direct benefit for Nigeria.

Meanwhile, the current President of CAF, Patrice Motsepe, won his re-election and will remain in charge of African football for the next four years.