The South African Football Association has explained why its president Danny Jordaan pulled out of the race for a place on the Fifa Council.
Jordaan’s decision comes as no surprise because he’s pulled out of CAF and Fifa elections before. He withdrew from the Cosafa presidency race in December.
Phillip Chiyangwa of Zimbabwe was named Cosafa president as he stood unopposed after Jordaan opted to withdraw on the morning of the election.
Safa, however, insisted yesterday that Jordaan has decided not to contest the Fifa position – the elections take place on March 16 – because he wants to focus on one job.
“The president decided that the best way for him to make a huge contribution is to go through CAF first.
“Don’t forget he was going for two positions – one at Fifa and another at CAF – but he decided that it will limit his focus,” said the association’s spokesman, Dominic Chimhavi yesterday.
Chimhavi confirmed that Jordaan was eligible for both positions but insisted that the decision was not to overload himself.
“I hear some people talking about the eligibility issue. He was never subjected to that. He was eligible for both positions. He’s still going [to contest] for the CAF position.”
Jordaan pulled out at the same time as his main rival, South Sudan Football Association’s Chabur Gok Alei. Zambia’s Kalusha Bwalya announced his unavailability last week.
Africa has seven Fifa Council places and next week’s CAF congress in Ethiopia will determine winners in various categories.
One place is reserved for the winner of the CAF presidential election and another for a female candidate. That will go to Lydia Nsekera of Burundi, the only woman in the field.
The other five places are divided into language groups and an open category. Jordaan was not available for comment as he is in Zambia for the CAF U-20 Afcon tournament.
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