SAFA President heads 2013 Africa Cup of Nations Organising Committee

By Tom Degun

January 7 – Kirsten Nematandani (pictured), the South African Football Association (SAFA) President, is set to lead the Organising Committee for the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations having already played a major role in bringing the event to the country.

The tournament was originally schedule to take place in Libya but, following the uprising against the Government of Muammar Gaddafi last year, it was considered unfeasible to stage the event in the country.

A decision was therefore made last September to move the tournament to South Africa, while Libya was instead given the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations that South Africa was initially due to host.

Although the composition of the Organising Committee has not yet been confirmed, Nematandani admitted that he was likely to lead it as he said: “Nothing prevents the SAFA President from holding this position.”

The final decision still needs to be confirmed by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) but Nematandani said that the appointments will be made soon and that preparations for the tournament are already going well.

“We have set up a meeting with CAF to deal with the preparations for the tournament,” he said.

“We have already laid a solid foundation to mark the start of our preparations.

“I’m leading the SAFA team to finalise the structure and other related matters.

“Our Committee is hoping to secure the appointment of the Organising Committee leader with the CAF general secretary Hicham El Amrani in the near future.

“Some of the issues we will discuss with CAF include marketing and commercial rights.

“These issues will determine how much energy we need and monies required, if any.”

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