Soccer
Jordaan gets cold feet
2011-12-09 13:24
Johannesburg - SAFA vice-president Danny Jordaan withdrew his candidacy at the very
last minute for the position of president of COSAFA on Friday.
Jordaan was due to stand against current incumbent Suketu Patel, a
vice-president of CAF, but withdrew just as voting was due to commence.
Provisional estimates suggested Jordaan would get only around four votes
from the 14 members that make up COSAFA and it is believed he took his
name out of the hat rather than go through the embarrassment of another
defeat having been left in last place in voting for a place on the CAF
Executive Committee at the CAF Congress in Sudan in February.
Jordaan was a key figure in organising the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South
Africa, but has had his attempts to raise his profile globally stifled
since then.
He remains a vice-president of SAFA, but the suggestion has been put
forward that he is only using that position to try and win a place on
the CAF and Fifa executives.
Meanwhile, COSAFA vice-president Salemane Phafane from Lesotho stood unopposed for re-election to his role.
David Fani (Botswana), Walter Nyamilandu Manda (Malawi), John Muinjo
(Namibia), Timothy Shongwe (Swaziland) and Faizel Sidaet (Mozambique)
were elected to the positions on the COSAFA executive.
Fani is the only new recruit, having taken over from Zimbabawe’s Wellington Nyatanga.