Soccer
Jordaan vies for CAF post
2013-03-08 17:36
Danny Jordaan (Gallo Images)
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Cape Town - South African administrator Danny Jordaan, the man in charge of the last World Cup, makes another bid this weekend for a major post in international soccer after being handed several embarrassing setbacks since 2010.
Jordaan is a candidate for a place on the Confederation of African Football's (CAF) executive committee at the organisation's congress in Marrakech, Morocco on Sunday.
"I think I have a good chance but it is the congress who must decide," he told Reuters.
It is a second attempt by Jordaan to get a place on African football's inner cabinet after a trouncing two years ago at the previous elections in Sudan.
He also failed to win one of the African places on the FIFA executive committee, withdrawing his candidacy at the last minute in political horse trading that looked to backfire on him.
Last year, Jordaan gave up a bid for the presidency of the southern African regional body Cosafa in a further blow to his image as a suave politician with close connections to key FIFA officials who was one of the vital brokers in ensuring a first ever World Cup for Africa.
But the 61-year-old has a stronger chance this time after a decision to award an extra place on the committee to a southern African representative.
The elections are the only major business on the congress agenda and will see CAF president Issa Hayatou returned unopposed for another four-year term.
An attempt by his rival Jacques Anouma to overturn a decision to disqualify non-executive committee members from the election was rejected earlier this week by the Swiss-based Court of Arbitration for Sport.
Hayatou, from Cameroon, will extend his tenure in charge to 29 years after he steered through new election rules last September that allow only CAF executive committee members with full voting rights to stand for the presidency.
Anouma, former president of the Ivory Coast football federation, sits on the committee in his capacity as a FIFA executive committee member but has no voting privileges.
Former FIFA member Amadou Diakite of Mali, banned for two years in November 2010 by world football's governing body over allegations of bribery in the vote-buying scandal surrounding the bids for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, is also standing for a place on the CAF executive committee.