The Confederation of African Football (CAF) will be debt-free next year as a result of improved governance since Patrice Motsepe became president of a “toxic” body in 2021, says its secretary general Veron Mosengo-Omba.

CAF president Patrice Motsepe (middle) and Veron Veron Mosengo-Omba (right).

Installed as deputy just days after the South African billionaire Motsepe was appointed president, Mosengo-Omba said the CAF’s level of debt when the pair took over was about $40m.

He said this figure had reduced by more than half since, with the tally set to drop even further when financial accounts are presented later this year.

“I think we will present a [deficit] figure to the Caf congress of less than $12m”, Mosengo-Omba told BBC Sport Africa.

“For the next fiscal year, [the debt] will be zero.”

The CAF financial year runs from the start of July to the end of June, with accounts traditionally presented to congress in October, meaning the organisation could be debt-free in just under 12 months’ time.

Mosengo-Omba, who comes from DR Congo but who also holds Swiss nationality, attributed the turnaround at the African football governing body to his 62 year-old South African boss.

“Motsepe and his executive coming in was, for me, a gift for African football,” said the lawyer, who worked as FIFA’s chief member associations officer before joining Cairo-based CAF.

“In 2021, CAF was a toxic company – nobody trusted CAF. When Motsepe came, he put the principle of good governance and integrity in all levels of the organisation.

“This brings confidence to our partners.”

Motsepe replaced the previous administration led by Madagascar’s Ahmad Ahmad.

Elected president in 2017 when he dethroned long-standing CAF president Issa Hayatou, Ahmad’s tenure was blighted by scandal, with the Malagasy – who denies wrongdoing – banned for two years by FIFA for breaking its ethics codes, including ‘misappropriation of funds’.

The Hayatou administration maintains that it left over $100m in reserves when it departed, with the funds declining vastly under Ahmad whose regime increased salaries, cut CAF’s biggest-ever broadcast deal before then suffering some Covid-induced losses.

Under Motsepe meanwhile, the number of sponsors of CAF’s flagship Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) competition rose from 10 for the 2021 finals in Cameroon to 17 for the 2023 edition that took place in Ivory Coast in January this year.

It also gained a global television audience of 1.1 billion, with double that tally accessing the tournament’s digital content.

Mosengo-Omba also anticipated that the next edition of AFCON to take place in Morocco will generate even more money than what was made in Ivory Coast.

“In Cameroon we generated about $4-5 million profit. In Ivory Coast the profit was more than $75 million. This shows we are [going] in a good direction and for Morocco, the next edition, I think [the profit] will be increased by 50%,” said the CAF secretary-general.

Most of this increase is coming from sponsors and television rights, with Mosengo-Omba declaring himself “very happy” that CAF generated $14m after taking ticketing and hospitality in-house for the first time.

Despite a recent suggestion by AFCON-winning coach Emerse Fae that the tournament be held every four years for ease of preparation, Mosengo-Omba dispelled it by reiterating the fact that the governing body’s greatest income comes every two years from the finals, which next kick off in December 2025.

“The periodicity of AFCON is not on the table,” he said.

“We need the money from AFCON every two years to run football in Africa”, he added.