Safa leaps into the fray with Afcon 2019 bid

The South African Football Association (Safa) is officially bidding for the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations, with Safa CEO Russell Paul indicating they are willing to extend “an olive branch” to help the Confederation of African Football (Caf) get the tournament organised.

Caf are desperate to find a host after stripping Cameroon of the tournament scheduled for June next year, and gave a deadline of midnight last night for interested countries to submit official bid documents.

“We will have whatever we need to have in by midnight,” said Paul.

“You are bidding for something you are only given months to prepare for,” he added. “We are one of those trying to support Caf, and to support the African continent in particular.

“Especially given that they (Caf) are increasing this competition from 16 to 24 teams (for the first time), you can’t afford to have this thing collapse, so we are extending an olive branch. It’s not your traditional bid.”

Safa have already spoken to the SA government, which would need to give assurances for the hosting of the competition.

Safa president Danny Jordaan said he has spoken to Minister of Sport and Recreation Tokozile Xasa, who has already said publicly South Africa are interested in hosting it. Paul has also been speaking to director-general Alec Moemi.

Jordaan added: “But you see the detailed requirements only when you get the Organising Association Agreement (OAA).

“We have the infrastructure, stadia, roads, airports, hotels, we have more than enough training grounds.

“The government services, the police, the ambulances, the visas, customs and excise, those are the things government will deliver and no one else can, therefore we need government support.”

Jordaan said that if South Africa’s bid was accepted, Caf would send the OAA to Safa.

“There is an intent (to host), which the minister (Xasa) has confirmed,” added Paul. “Once we get to the stage of being selected we can start to … identify a proper OAA, and go and negotiate (with government).

“The OAA has a lot of requirements and already we only have a six-month window in theory to have everything ready. We are in the advantageous position that you could arrive this afternoon and play a match.”

As all the infrastructure is in place, Paul estimated the cost of hosting an Afcon would be “about US$10 to 12 million (about R140 million to R170 million).

“From a South African perspective we have zero infrastructure costs … we do not have the challenges associated with a normal bid.”

Jordaan said Egypt had also expressed interest in hosting Afcon 2019.

A final decision is expected from Caf on January 9.

One obvious advantage for Bafana Bafana is that they would automatically qualify if SA was to get the tournament.

As it stands, Stuart Baxter’s side need at least a point from their final qualifier away to Libya in March to make it to Afcon 2019.

Paul added that Caf might avoid organisational issues in future if there were co-hosts for this expanded 24-team tournament.

“Now the tournament has expanded to 24 teams, Caf needs to reconsider their approach.

“Very few countries [in Africa] have that kind of infrastructure without needing to spend money.”

– jontym@citizen.co.za

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