The South African Football Association (SAFA) appreciates the Confederation of African Football (CAF)’s confidence in the country to host significant soccer events. These were the sentiments shared by SAFA president Danny Jordaan who says the current CAF African Schools Football Championship in Durban will add to their profile of successfully hosting major tournaments, as they continue in their efforts to host the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
The inaugural CAF African Schools Football championship kicked off on Wednesday in Durban. 14 teams from different African countries participated in the competition.
Although at a small scale compared to other football tournaments on the continent, the event is significant in different ways. It has set the agenda for CAF to take school football to another level.
President of the South African Football Association, Danny Jordaan, says it has always been the CAF president’s goal to see the revival of schools football on the continent.
“We have to get the base right. When Patrice Motsepe took over as CAF president, he said this was not an issue of SA but Africa. Schools are not playing. So, he has invested 10 million dollars to see schools competition under CAF. It was agreed that the government must put regulations so that Wednesday becomes a day for schools sport.”
South African football legend Lucas Radebe discusses the massive impact the African Schools Football Championship has on African kids across the continent. #ASFC pic.twitter.com/tYJxyPqJOa
— CAF (@CAF_Online) April 6, 2023
The tournament is the first of its kind on the continent and South Africa was chosen to be the host.
With CAF looking to bring back the World Cup to the continent, it is important for countries that have shown interest to be hosts to continuously hold big events to build momentum for their bids to FIFA.
South Africa has submitted its bid for the 2027 FIFA Womens World Cup. But it’s Morocco that has already received CAF’s support for their intention to host the men’s edition in 2030.
“This is Morocco’s 5th bid for the World Cup. In 2010, they lost to South Africa. The desire is there. They’ve done a lot for African football. Many AFCON matches have been played there, the Women’s AFCON, Club World Cup, and the U23s will be played there. The CAF executives unanimously agreed to endorse Morocco’s bid for the 2030 World,“ says Jordaan.
For the first time ever, the hosts of the 2027 Women’s World Cup will also be voted by all FIFA member nations like the men’s events. SAFA’s executives will meet later this month to discuss their strategy and plans for their bid to ensure they get the majority vote.
Jordaan says, “We will have a meeting with CAF and we will engage them. it is the member associations, 211 that will vote. it’s important that we get the support of the entire continent. this world cup will be beneficial for African women’s football. we need a face of the bid and must be a woman. SAFA executive must agree on that and then we go to CAF in Cairo with our proposal.”
Having successfully hosted the men’s world cup in 2010, Jordaan is confident that the 2027 competition would be ‘plug-and-play’ for South Africa.
