South Africa’s Patrice Motsepe on Friday emerged as the President of the Confederation of African Football (CAF), taking over from Ahmad Ahmad.

Motsepe, who is the owner of South African giants Mamelodi Sundowns, was elected unopposed to replace outgoing Ahmad Ahmad, whose three-year reign promised much but was ultimately mottled by accusations of nepotism, corruption and embezzlement.

He was suspended in November after being found guilty of breaching four separate articles of Fifa’s ethics code and banned from all football-related activity for five years.

The 59-year-old Motsepe’s ascent to the pinnacle of African football comes following intervention by Fifa president Gianni Infantino, who reportedly supervised the brokering of a deal with the other candidates.

The pact proposed by Infantino – and ultimately accepted by Motsepe’s rivals – means that Senegal’s Augustin Senghor and Ahmed Yahya of Mauritania will take up roles as the South African’s vice-presidents.

Ivorian Jacques Anouma, who had previously outlined his desire to take the confederation’s reins, has been appointed as special advisor to Motsepe.

Motsepe is the ninth richest man in Africa with a personal wealth estimated at $2.9 billion (2.4 billion euros) by Forbes magazine. He owns 2016 CAF Champions League winners Mamelodi Sundowns.

He inherits an organisation described as a “cesspool of corruption and self interest” by South African newspaper the Daily Maverick.

“CAF desperately needs to break from its tired old ways, institutionalised habits and the sense it serves those who sit on its executive committee, rather than the other way round,” wrote the publication.

“More importantly, it needs to find more revenue streams and must dramatically improve the quality of its products to do so.”

CAF are banking on Motsepe, a fan of Spanish giants Barcelona, using his business connections across Africa to woo new sponsors.

France-based oil and gas giant Total are the main financial backers, but details of the eight-year deal that began in 2016 have never been disclosed.