'Politics' a real concern for Danny Jordaan as South Africa battle Egypt for rights to host Afcon 2019

Safa president Danny Jordaan is worried that politics could play a huge role in swinging the pendulum in Egypt's favour in the race to host the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations tournament. 

Both South Africa and Egypt submitted bids to replace Cameroon, who were stripped of the rights to host the tournament late last year. 

Following an executive committee which was headed by president Ahmad Ahmad, Caf decided that Cameroon were not ready to host the continental showpiece after realizing significant delays in their preparations. 

"If you compare South Africa with Egypt, we clearly have an advantage because we have the infrastructure, the experience ... just everything in place,” Jordaan told City Press.

"The politics are another matter. Arab countries are very entrenched and Caf headquarters are in Cairo,” he said. 

Safa met the December 14 deadline after taking the decision to bid in their annual general meeting (AGM) towards the end of 2018.  

“We have submitted our proposals – they must decide,” added the Safa boss.

Jordaan, though, was coy when asked if the country's FA had the backing of SA government prior to submitting their bid to host the tournament.

“The bidding process was a late thing. We wrote to Caf to say they must give us details of what to expect from the government. Normally, the requirement would be infrastructure. There will be no cost incurred for infrastructure,” he responded. 

Reports suggest that the SA government requested Caf to send details of what to expect from them which never came through until Safa put forward the proposal to step in and take over from Cameroon.   

The publication reports that Jordaan had not received any response from Caf in this regard by last week Friday.  

South Africa needs at least R120 million to stage the games, but Safa publicly admitted that it didn't have the funds to host the tournament hence they approached the government for help.