Safa announces R23m profit

The SA Football Association (Safa) held its annual congress at the Sandton convention centre on Sunday, which saw the Association record a R23,1m in profit.

The profit is a big turnaround in the association’s coffers. Last year, Safa recorded a huge loss of R45m.

The congress also took a number of decisions which include bringing the 2018 elective congress from September 2018 to March.

The move to bring forward the Elective Congress was informed by the fact that Bafana Bafana have failed to qualify for the Fifa 2018 World Cup.

The idea to move the Safa elections to September 2018 was taken on 2016 in order to allow smooth preparations for the team and to give the new incoming executive a clean start to the World Cup circle.

Now that the team has failed to qualify for Russia, the congress unanimously agreed to bring the elections forward to March.

The Safa Congress on Sunday also agreed to make Zululand President Jeremiah Mdlalose the Safa NEC honorary member joining Obakeng Molatedi, Henry Mosesi, Lesole Gadinabokao and former Safa President Molefi Oliphant.

The congress was chaired by Safa President Danny Jordaan who lauded all members for a successful 2017.

Jordaan said Safa’s investment of over R100m in the National Technical Centre represented a commitment to develop a global benchmark of the development of internationally competitive teams having Provincial Academies among others.

Safa will appoint 18 Provincial Technical Officers, one male and one female, to provide operational capacity to enable the Technical Director to drive the Association’s vision.

Safa has built a robust talent pipeline at local level that has seen the country produce competitive junior national teams.

The Safa President decried the senior national team’s failure to qualify for Russia 2018 as a major setback for the Association’s vision. However, Jordaan said the fact that the junior national teams (Under-17 and Under-20) qualified for the Fifa World Cup as well as the Olympics gives a base for a process of renewal.

SAFA is encouraged by the progress shown by women national teams, with Banyana Banyana being crowned COSAFA champions while the women Under-17 and Under-20 FIFA World Cup campaigns are about to realise another global showpiece qualification.

On the healthy financial affairs of the Association, Jordaan said one key element of Vision 2022 was to build a world-class administration and this can only be achieved by having a financially stable organisation.

“On this front, the challenge has been great. The CEO and his team have done an excellent job of managing this difficult process, and I am pleased to announce that we have once more turned the corner to profitability,” said Jordaan in announcing a profit of 23,1m.

He said the profitability was due to the signing of Nike, South African Airways, SABC, Siyaya, Avis, Burger King and the renewal of contractual obligations with South African Breweries, Energade and Sasol.

He said it was heartening that the association had increased the broadcast revenue from R35m to R100m over this period.

SAFA is building the asset base by investing R100m in building a hotel at the National Technical Centre, SAFA House is worth R70m, the Legacy Trust has R210m in its account and SAFA has considerable shares in Netcare.

The association has also finalised and submitted a claim for US$10m to the South African government in relation to the Diaspora Legacy funding during the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

SAFA CFO Gronie Hluyo concurred with Jordaan that strict financial controls had resulted in the big turnover. He said the Association had heavily cut down on its accommodation of the national teams as it was now utilising the National Technical Centre.

Hluyo said while last year the Association’s reserves were R6m, those figures had jumped to R30m this year.

The 2018 budget has been set at R305m compared to R341m last year