The candidates were; North Zone - Jamal El Jaafri (Libya), West A Zone - Augustin Senghor (Senegal), West B Zone - Sita Sangare (Burkina Faso), Central Zone - Patrice Edouard Ngaissona (Central African Republic) and Pierre Alain Mounguengui (Gabon).

According to CAF, Bachir Ould Zmirli (Algeria) was the only applicant, who was disqualified by the Executive Committee for failure to meet the statutory deadlines. In addition, CAF would henceforth pay directly indemnities of referees designated for CAF matches.

The historic decision is a materialization of a campaign promise by the CAF President, which is expected to reduce the financial burden on national associations and also eliminates an ethical challenge. It is also expected to removes the suspicion perceived between national associations and the referees.