It is a snub that will undoubtedly not remain without consequences: the president of the Algerian Football Federation (FAF), Djahid Zefizef suffered a bitter failure on Thursday, July 13 in the vote of the CAF executive board which took place in Abidjan.
A failure all the more resounding as his rival, the Libyan Abdul Hakim Al Shalmani, outgoing member, sits on a federation whose country has been in the grip of a political and security crisis for more than a decade.
With a difference of 23 votes, the victory of the Libyan suffers from no ambiguity and reflects the limits of the influence of the governing body of Algerian football with the federations of the continent.
Perceived as a humiliation by Algerian football fans, this failure did not fail to trigger an avalanche of reactions on social networks.
“ Who would have thought that winning a place in FIFA or CAF depended above all on the diplomacy of the country to which the candidate belongs? asks famous sports commentator Hafid Derradji.
“ Let them know that the winner today of the seat in the executive board of CAF at the expense of the Algerian Djahid Zefizef is the Libyan Abdul Hakim Al-Shalmani, whose country has suffered from a political and security crisis for years. . He passed thanks to his skill by obtaining 38 votes against 15 votes for the representative of Algeria ”, he comments in a Facebook post before pushing a blow of anger.
Algerian sports diplomacy undermined by instability
“Therefore, we must no longer allow anyone to present themselves in Algeria for any position if they are not qualified and we must not allow anyone to assume responsibilities in a country the size of the world. ‘Algeria without being capable and empowered’.
Without being explicit, Hafid Derradji is probably referring to the conditions that often surround the election of officials within Algerian football bodies, often the result of clan arrangements and power relations, political interference and allegiance.
Officials who often turn out to be without vision or strategy, even struggling to manage the national championship calendar. Predictably, this failure concludes the wanderings of a body plagued by instability since the departure of Mohamed Raouraoua in 2017.
An instability that does not give the holders of the position enough time to forge links with the leaders of other federations on the continent, is necessary for the work of lobbying and football diplomacy.
But are incompetence, as Hafidh Derradji suggests, and instability the only reasons behind the failure of the FAF president to be elected to the CAF executive committee? Not only.
Due to internal political contingencies, Algeria, which does not lack ambitions with regard to its resources and its geostrategic position, has obviously not yet integrated football as a card likely to extend its influence on the continent, or even beyond.
A continent, a natural extension of the country, to which we have, it must be admitted, turned our backs during the reign of the late President Abdelaziz Bouteflika.
Football as a soft power strategy is being tested with great success by countries like Qatar and Saudi Arabia. With much less resources than these two countries, Morocco has also invested heavily in sports diplomacy by establishing partnerships with many African federations integrating aspects such as training, hosting internships for selections or even aid for the construction of sports infrastructure.
And the influence of local football, based on true professionalism, does the rest. Beyond the character, the failure of Djahid Zefizef is also the absence of backstage work by seasoned men like Raouaroua or the late Moh Cherif Hannachi, but who to be effective must rely on a strategy and aggressive sports diplomacy. In some ways, the choice of the Libyan comes rather as a sign of defiance to Algeria.
