Former Ghana captain, Abedi Ayew "Pele" has thrown his support behind Issa Hayatou's quest to run for president of the Confederation of African Football (Caf).  The Ghana legend was previously a vocal opponent of Hayatou, who will be re-elected unopposed next February.

"The reason why I'm supporting him is I want a peaceful Africa, and I don't want Caf to be having power struggles when we have the [2010] World Cup in South Africa," Pele told BBC Sport.

"I know how we suffered to get the World Cup to this continent - for the past 10 years we've been working so hard and I don't want this hard work to be in vain."

Pele, a three-time African Footballer of the Year, is an official ambassador for the 2010 World Cup.  He is also a member of the football committee of the game's world governing body Fifa.

When Hayatou challenged Sepp Blatter for the presidency of Fifa in 2002, Pele urged African countries to support Blatter.  But, for now, Pele is behind Hayatou, who has been in charge of Caf since 1988.

"I want to see a successful World Cup, and after the World Cup we can all sit down and see whether there's a need for change," said Pele.

"We need to give him [Hayatou] the support to ensure that we have a very successful World Cup on our continent and to ensure that it was given on merit, not just by chance."