SAFA denies 2013 African Nations Cup hosting deal

By David Gold

September 1 – The South African Football Association (SAFA) has denied claims that it will host the 2013 African Nations Cup, insisting that the final decision would be taken by the African Football Confederation (CAF) next month.

Reports emerged last week that SAFA had reached a deal with their Libyan counterparts to stage the 2013 event, initially intended to take place in Libya, who are still in the midst of a transition from the rule of former leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi.

Gaddafi is still clinging to what little power he has remaining, using supporters close to him to resist the overthrow of his rule by a popular rebellion.

Due to these events, Libya’s staging of the tournament was in considerable doubt, and under an agreement reached between the two countries, South Africa would host the tournament instead, with Libya staging the 2017 competition, which had been awarded to the 2010 World Cup hosts.

But SAFA President Kirsten Nematandani (pictured) said that reports claiming that they would host next year’s tournament were “totally premature”.

“It is a bit premature to celebrate and say we are the hosts of the 2013 event because that is not the case.

“The CAF executive still has to meet and it is truly unfortunate that this has come out in this manner.”

The Libyan Football Federation (LFF) has sent the proposal to CAF, but the body now has to ratify the decision when they meet next month.

Algeria are also keen to host the 2013 African Nations Cup, while Nigeria were also promised that they would be the backup host for the 2010, 2012 and 2013 tournaments if any problems arose.

But given that CAF is based in Egypt and do not have a great relationship with the South Africans, they may be more inclined to hand the tournament to the Algerians instead.

Last week CAF’s secretary general Hicham El Amrani criticised South Africa for announcing that they had agreed the 2013/2017 deal with Libya.

“We are disappointed that the South African Football Association has chosen to make public these discussions and plans before the matter is discussed by our executive committee,” El Amrani told Reuters.

“It would have been correct to have waited until it is discussed and ratified.

“It is premature and it has upset us that there has been this breach of protocol.”

Meanwhile, in 2004, CAF President Issa Hayatou told African representatives to vote for Morocco rather than South Africa when the two countries went head to head in the race to host the 2010 World Cup.

Nematandani will hope that his intervention will reassure CAF that South Africa is not overly presumptuous about its hopes to stage next year’s event.

CAF’s executive committee will meet on September 28th to make a final decision on the tournament.

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