The Court of Arbitration for Sport rejects Anouma case

Jacques Anouma

Fifa executive committee member Jacques Anouma has failed to win an interim ruling to become a Confederation of African Football presidential candidate against incumbent Issa Hayatou.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport says it rejected Anouma's provisional request because his national federation, Ivory Coast, also needed to join the case.

"Only national associations have the power to propose candidates for the presidential election," a statement on the Cas website said:

"In this case, the Ivory Coast Football Federation did not challenge Caf's decision and has not filed an appeal to Cas to support the position of Mr. Anouma."

However, Cas says it will create a panel for the main hearing in Anouma's appeal.

Anouma has criticised longtime Caf leader Hayatou's "scandalous" tactics to block his challenge at the election which will be held on 10 March in Marrakech, Morocco.

The Ivorian was ruled ineligible to run for the position in September after Hayatou, 66, oversaw a change in the Caf statutes that allows only voting members of its executive committee to contest the presidency.

Anouma is a member of Caf's executive committee only because he serves as one of the continent's representatives on the Fifa executive. Although he attends Caf meetings, he does not have any voting rights.

This is the third case that Cas has rejected challenging the change to the Caf statutes after two previous challenges lodged by the Liberia Football Association.