Addis Ababa — Madagascan Ahmad Ahmad was elected president of the Confederation of African Football (Caf) on Thursday, ousting veteran leader Issa Hayatou after 29 years in office to usher in a "new dawn" for the sport on the continent. Ahmad, head of Madagascar’s football federation, won the election in the Ethiopian capital by 34 votes to Hayatou’s 20, official results showed. Delegates cheered and pumped their fists in the plenary hall after the announcement, which heralded the departure of the last of the "old generation" of leaders in world football. Ahmad, 57, was a player and coach before he took the reins of the Madagascar football federation in 2003. His rare and determined bid for "change" at the head of Caf this year took many by surprise, and the incumbent was seen as the favourite. "When you try to do something, you mean that you can do it," Ahmad told reporters after the vote. "If I can’t do it, I never stand." He earlier said his programme was the "reform of the admin...
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