SHARM EL SHEIKH, Egypt (AP) — Malawi soccer federation head Walter Nyamilandu was elected to the FIFA Council on Sunday, a surprising result that saw 2010 World Cup chief organizer Danny Jordaan of South Africa miss out again.
Nyamilandu, a former international player for his southern Africa nation, beat Jordaan in a runoff at a Confederation of African Football meeting in Egypt.
Nyamilandu, a relative unknown in international soccer politics, now joins as one of the African representatives on the world body’s 37-member strategic panel headed by FIFA President Gianni Infantino. Infantino attended the CAF extraordinary general assembly meeting in Sharm El Sheikh.
The special election was required after Kwesi Nyantakyi of Ghana resigned from the council in June after being accused of taking a prohibited cash gift of $65,000 in a bribery sting. He is under investigation by FIFA’s ethics committee.
Jordaan and veteran Tanzanian soccer official Leodegar Tenga lost out. Tenga was eliminated in the first round of voting.
Two other candidates who were cleared to stand, Elvis Chetty of Seychelles and Nick Mwendwa of Kenya, withdrew before the election.
Jordaan, who oversaw South Africa’s widely praised World Cup, previously lost in a vote for the then-FIFA executive committee in 2011 and withdrew from an election for a council place last year.
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