President of UEFA Aleksander Ceferin has in a letter addressed to the President of FIFA rejected the proposed appointment of Fatima Samoura as the FIFA general delegate for Africa.
According to the UEFA boss, he cannot approve of the proposal stating the possibilities of Conflict of Interest, and breaches to the FIFA statutes.
He also raised issues of a possible vacuum that would be created in the absence of the FIFA general secretary.
The statement from the UEFA President said “without wishing to call into question the integrity and legitimacy of Mrs. Fatima Samoura, whom I hold in highest esteem, the solution proposed raises a large number of questions and in particular the likelihood of conflicts of interest, How would it be possible not to raise this issue, knowing the general delegate for Africa would remain FIFA general secretary, and would act under the authority of both FIFA and CAF”.
The statement also addressed issues relating to the FIFA and CAF statutes, it read “there is also serious doubt that the solution proposed complies with the statutes of both FIFA and CAF, until this doubt has been dispelled, and a serious in-deph legal analyses have been carried out, I am unable to approve the proposal.”.
FIFA and in a. Joint statement with CAF announced the appointment of Fatima Samoura as the FIFA general delegate for Africa for six months renewable period from August to January 2020.