HAYATOU RELUCTANTLY EXITS SCENE: Loss by Cameroonian in CAF elections marks end of football old guards

Ahmad Ahmad (2ndL) of Madagascar reacts after being elected the new president of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) in Addis Ababa on 16 March 2017. Madagascar's football chief Ahmad Ahmad was elected president of the Confederation of African Football today, ousting veteran leader Issa Hayatou after 29 years in office. / AFP PHOTO / Zacharias Abubker

The look on his face told it all. Moments after the results of the presidential vote for the Confederation of African Football (CAF) was announced, Issa Hayatou sat motionless and looked all the 71 years of his life.

The Cameroonian aristocrat had spent 29 of those years as the seemingly untouchable leader of the continental football governing body.