{"id":47727,"date":"2026-01-17T21:56:24","date_gmt":"2026-01-17T21:56:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/?p=47727"},"modified":"2026-01-17T21:56:24","modified_gmt":"2026-01-17T21:56:24","slug":"utm_sourcerssutm_mediumrssutm_campaigncaf-president-motsepe-dismisses-claims-of-european-and-fifa-influence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/2026\/01\/17\/utm_sourcerssutm_mediumrssutm_campaigncaf-president-motsepe-dismisses-claims-of-european-and-fifa-influence\/","title":{"rendered":"CAF president Motsepe dismisses claims of European and FIFA influence"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\" async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- Africa tv video display -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"3579572842\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\">\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"post-139578\">&#13;<br \/>\n\t<!-- .entry-header -->&#13;<br \/>\n    &#13;<br \/>\n\t<img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" width=\"396\" height=\"264\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/CAF-president-Motsepe-dismisses-claims-of-European-and-FIFA-influence.jpeg?resize=396%2C264&#038;ssl=1\" class=\"object-contain h-46 w-full rounded-lg  md:rounded-none md:rounded-lg wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.soccer24.co.zw\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/caf-Patrice-Motsepe.jpeg?w=1600&amp;ssl=1 1600w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.soccer24.co.zw\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/caf-Patrice-Motsepe.jpeg?resize=300%2C200&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.soccer24.co.zw\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/caf-Patrice-Motsepe.jpeg?resize=1024%2C682&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.soccer24.co.zw\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/caf-Patrice-Motsepe.jpeg?resize=768%2C512&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.soccer24.co.zw\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/caf-Patrice-Motsepe.jpeg?resize=1536%2C1023&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.soccer24.co.zw\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/caf-Patrice-Motsepe.jpeg?resize=396%2C264&amp;ssl=1 396w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.soccer24.co.zw\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/caf-Patrice-Motsepe.jpeg?w=1280&amp;ssl=1 1280w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 396px) 100vw, 396px\"\/>&#13;<\/p>\n<div class=\"entry-content custom-text-styles\">\n<div class=\"soccer24-advanced-banner soccer24-banner-type-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1768686983_99_CAF-president-Motsepe-dismisses-claims-of-European-and-FIFA-influence.jpeg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Banner2image\" class=\"soccer24-banner-image\"\/><\/div>\n<p>The Confederation of African Football (CAF) president Patrice Motsepe has refuted allegations suggesting that the continental body is being influenced by Europeans and FIFA to make decisions that suit external interests at the expense of Africa.<\/p>\n<p>The allegations rose after CAF moved the Africa Cup of Nations to a four-year cycle starting in 2028.<\/p>\n<p>Motsepe addressed the claims during a press conference ahead of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) final between hosts Morocco and Senegal.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe didn\u2019t do as good a job at CAF in preparing the ground on this AFCON every four years. We must make sure that our everyday people, who we account to, understand that what we have done is good for them,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is the right decision. We will indeed have a new competition, and it will be enormously successful. African football will be better.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe must free ourselves as Africans and have more confidence in ourselves. It should not be about FIFA says this or UEFA says this. We can be convinced we are doing the right things, but it is important that everyone on the continent is convinced too. We have to educate our people on the decisions we have taken. We know that in two or three years people will see what we are talking about.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><h3 class=\"jp-relatedposts-headline\"><em>Related Posts<\/em><\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><!-- .entry-content -->&#13;<br \/>\n&#13;<br \/>\n\t<!-- \n\n<footer class=\"entry-footer\">\n\t\t<span class=\"cat-links\">Posted in Local<\/span><span class=\"tags-links\">Tagged 2025 afcon, caf, FIFA, Patrice Motsepe, UEFA<\/span>\t<\/footer>\n\n -->&#13;<br \/>\n    &#13;<br \/>\n&#13;<br \/>\n&#13;<br \/>\n&#13;<br \/>\n\t&#13;<br \/>\n\t&#13;\n<\/div>\n<p><script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\" async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- Africa tv video display -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"3579572842\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\">\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n#CAF #president #Motsepe #dismisses #claims #European #FIFA #influence<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#13; &#13; &#13; &#13; The Confederation of African Football (CAF) president Patrice Motsepe has refuted allegations suggesting that the continental&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":31460,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[922,384,2358,283,286,5590,924,313],"class_list":["post-47727","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-example-3","tag-caf","tag-claims","tag-dismisses","tag-european","tag-fifa","tag-influence","tag-motsepe","tag-president"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47727","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47727"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47727\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47728,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47727\/revisions\/47728"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31460"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47727"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47727"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47727"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}