Issa Hayatou: Eight facts you ought to know about Sepp Blatter's FIFA successor

FIFA has a new chief. But who is Issa Hayatou?

New Delhi: Issa Hayatou will takeover as FIFA boss from Sepp Blatter until the next presidential election.

Blatter along with colleagues Michel Platini and Jerome Valcke were on Thursday provisionally suspended by FIFA's ethics committee.

To fill in the void at the top, Confederation of African Football's Hayatou was named as the acting president.

The fifth president of CAF has had a checkered career ever since joining the world football's governing body.

Here are eight lesser-known facts about the senior FIFA vice-president.

1) Born in Garoua, Cameroon on 9 August 1946, Hayatou belongs to an extremely influential family. His brother Sadou is the former prime minister of Cameroon.

2) Growing up, Hayatou was among the best athletes in Cameroon. He represented his country in basketball and as a middle-distance runner.

3) The 69-year-old assumed the role of Secretary General at the CAF in 1974. Hayatou became president in 1988, a position he continues to enjoy to this day.

4) Hayatou failed in his attempt to become FIFA boss in 2002, losing the presidential election to Blatter by 139 votes to 56. Despite his strong connections with European delegates, he couldn't overcome the Swiss.

5) The Cameroonian is widely regarded as the man behind African football's rise in the last 20 years. Under his supervision, countries like Cameroon, Senegal, Ghana and Algeria made a mark at the world stage.

6) Hayatou presided over both the bid and the organizing committee when South Africa hosted the FIFA World Cup in 2010

7) Hayatou is alleged to have accepted 100,000 French Francs in 1990s from ISL, a company that won TV rights for the World Cup. He refuted those allegations, stating that the money went into the CAF coffers.

8) The African administrator and fellow FIFA executive committee member Jacques Anoumais are accused to have taken a bribe worth $1.5 million from Qatar.