BBC Sport Online: Football: Africa

Caf will not punish Hayatou defectors

Caf members are now free to choose their candidate

This is in direct contradiction to a statement made on Friday by Caf's vice-president Farah Addo, who warned the Ugandan FA that they would face "punishment" if they did not vote for Caf president Issa Hayatou.

But Caf's statement denied that this was an issue.

"Caf would like to confirm that sanctioning African national associations for not voting for President Hayatou was not and will never be an issue," it said.

Addo's threat was issued after Uganda refused to acknowledge his proclamation that all of the members of Cecafa were behind Hayatou.

But despite the now seemingly relaxed vote, Caf said it was still confident that a majority of its members would support Hayatou "in order to realise the dream of a continent of having one of the continent's sons at the head of the world's biggest sports federation."