Monday, January 31, 2011

South Africa's Danny Jordaan pulls out of Caf race

Danny Jordaan
Danny Jordaan, South Africa 2010 World Cup CEO, has withdrawn his candidature for a position on the Caf executive committee.
Africa's football governing body will elect six new members at a general assembly in the Sudanese capital Khartoum on 23 February.
Sixteen candidates across the continent are contesting those positions.
But Jordaan has told BBC Sport that he has pulled out of the Caf race to focus on the Fifa contest.
"There are about seven candidates from our region going for Caf," he said.
"I would rather concentrate on the Fifa position and step back from the Caf position.
"I have had discussions with other candidates on the continent and particularly in our region."
Zambia's 1988 African Footballer of the Year Kalusha Bwalya and Suketu Patel, president of regional body Cosafa, are also eyeing a spot on the Fifa executive committee.
The 60-year-old Jordaan expressed optimism at winning the Fifa executive member position especially after he led a team that successfully hosted Africa's first ever World Cup last year.
Jordaan further expressed concern at the fact that the Cosafa region had so many candidates competing in the Caf race.
There are about seven candidates from our region going for Caf. I would rather concentrate on the Fifa position and step back from the Caf position.
South Africa 2010 World Cup CEO Danny Jordaan
"That's a weakness of Cosafa and Cecafa [East African regional body] for that matter.
"The English-speaking block are very divided and that leads to a great weakness. It's an issue we have to address. We need stronger and firmer leadership.
"We need to create unity and work hard towards unifying all of these countries."
South Africa, who hosted the 1996 African Cup of Nations, were on Saturday picked as the hosts for the 2017 tournament after losing to Morocco for the 2015 edition.
Jordaan said he was "fine" with Caf's decision to award Morocco the 2015 tournament but indicated his country was also pondering hosting the 2014 Club World Cup.
"We are looking at the 2014 Club World Cup. We are going to talk to Fifa about that," Jordaan revealed.
"We think these competitions must come to Africa."
DR Congo side TP Mazembe last year became the first African outfit to reach the final of the Club World Cup which took place in Abu Dhabi.
 
Story from BBC SPORT

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