Mutasim Abdullah (Dubai)
Dr. Mutasim Jaafar returned to the presidency of the Sudanese Football Association, in the new electoral cycle 2021-2025, after winning the exciting elections, against his opponent, Dr. Kamal Shaddad, which took place at the Police House in the Buri suburb of the Sudanese capital, Khartoum. Jaafar won 30 votes against 27 for Shaddad.
The victory of Mutassim Jaafar at the presidency of the federation, along with Osama Atta Al-Manan as the first vice president of the federation, remained subject to the decision of the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which allowed the duo to run in the current elections pending the final decision, after the appeal submitted to the court against the decision of the Ethics Committee of the Sudanese Federation and the Local Appeals Committee, respectively. excluding them from the electoral race.
Regardless of the court’s decision, Mutassim Jaafar “Al-Din” quickly responded to his former teacher, Kamal Shaddad, who won the last session 2017-2021, after he won 33 votes, compared to 28 for Jaafar in the elections that took place in October 2017, amid accusations of interference by the ruling National Congress Party. At that time, the elections in which Shaddad, 86, famously said, “I came back from the cemeteries to lead Sudanese football,” referring to his advanced age.
The expected session “2021-2025” represents the third session of Mutassim Jaafar, “65 years old”, in the presidency of the Sudanese Football Association. To the Sudanese Federation, where he held several positions, including Treasurer and Vice President Kamal Shaddad.
Mutassim Jaafar won the presidency of the Sudanese Football Association for the first time in July 2010, against his rival, Salah Idris, the former chairman of the board of directors of Al-Hilal Club, by obtaining 43 votes against 20 votes, which were the elections that witnessed the boycott of Kamal Shaddad against the background of his denial of candidacy.
Jaafar retained the same position for a second term in the 2013 elections, by winning against his rival Kamal Shaddad with “39 votes” compared to Shaddad’s 29, to win again in the current session 2021-2025, compensating for his loss in the 2017 elections.
Jaafar’s victory at the presidency of the Sudanese Football Association put an end to the aspirations of Shaddad, who in turn has been associated with working in the first sports institution for football in Sudan since the seventies of the last century, when he was elected secretary of the federation in 1979.
Shaddad headed the Sudanese Federation for the first time in 1988, reaching by the end of 2021 his candidacy for the same seat in 9 rounds, during which he won in 6, and only lost twice in 2013 and 2021 against his former student Mutassim Jaafar, in exchange for exclusion from candidacy in two rounds.
It is noteworthy that the Sudanese Football Association was established in 1936, and joined the International Football Association in the year 1948.
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