The president of Confederation of African Football (CAF), Madagascar’s Ahmad Ahmad has been reinstated by Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) as CAF President after being banned by FIFA for five years.
It could be recalled that FIFA banned Ahmad in November for five years after it found him guilty of breaching several of its ethics codes.
He appealed the decision and CAS issued a preliminary ruling on Friday in his favour.
Despite the latest CAS decision, Ahmad is still ineligible to contest CAF presidential elections in March.
This is because the decision came after both the CAF Governance Committee and FIFA Review Committee already met early this week and deliberated the eligibility of candidates.
CAS said in a statement that it will hear Ahmad’s appeal in full on March 2, and issue a verdict before the CAF presidential elections on 12 March.
The sport’s highest legal body, said: “Due to a risk of irreparable harm for Mr Ahmad if the disciplinary sanction is maintained during the period prior to the CAF elections, the CAS panel has upheld the request to temporarily stay the effects of the (FIFA ban).”
This effective suspension of the FIFA ruling will be in place ‘until the day that the final CAS award is issued.’