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SAFA, PSL 'war' set to resume

Johannesburg - Heated action in the "cold war" between the PSL and SAFA could emerge on Thursday after a meeting of the League’s executive, according to a report on Kickoff.co.za.

The PSL gave notice after the controversial SAFA elections last year, which brought Kirsten Nematandani into power, that they intended challenging the procedural validity of the poll after both Irvin Khoza and Danny Jordaan withdrew their nominations for the presidential post vacated by Molefi Oliphant.

However, both Fifa boss Sepp Blatter and Jacob Zuma stepped in shortly afterwards and requested both parties to shelve the matter until after the World Cup, and as a consequence the lid has been kept on the simmering pot.

PSL CEO Kjetil Siem says the SAFA election issue is not on Thursday’s agenda – which has not been made public - but could come up at the next executive meeting or before the Board of Governors gathering.

Siem’s own future at the PSL is also another matter up for discussion as his contract with the league is about to expire.

A further thorny issue that needs to be discussed is the League’s stand on SAFA’s proposal that the quota of foreign players plying their trade in the professional ranks be cut so as to create more development opportunities of young, local players.

Bafana’s new coach Pitso Mosimane has echoed this call, but judging from the remarks on the Amakhosi website of Kaizer Motaung, a member of the League’s Joint Liason committee with Safa, this is not readily acceptable.

Motaung says: “The call to exclude players from other countries is essentially retrogressive and should immediately be dismissed as countering all our efforts to raise the standard of football in our country.

“The challenge we all have is to strengthen our development structures so that we breed credible players that can reach professional and international levels in football. By so saying, all fingers point at SAFA which I believe holds the reigns as custodian of youth development.

“The immediate assignment is to rekindle school soccer to follow the erstwhile tradition of using schools as breeding grounds for professionals,” he adds.
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