Soccer fans face SABC blackout of crucial Bafana match

Soccer-mad South Africans will once again face a blackout on the SABC when Bafana Bafana take on the Super Eagles of Nigeria in a crucial 2019 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) qualifying match at the FNB Stadium in Soweto.

The SA Football Association (Safa) and the SABC have confirmed that the two Bafana Bafana and Banyana Banyana matches against Nigeria at the weekend will not be broadcast on its platforms after negotiations reached a deadlock.

The SABC also failed to broadcast the last Bafana home match, when Stuart Baxter’s team walloped the Seychelles 6-0 at the same stadium.

Banyana take on the West Africans in the Women’s Afcon opening match in the fishing port city of Cape Coast in Ghana on Sunday.

“The SABC and Safa have reached a deadlock in their negotiations on the coverage of the home matches for Bafana Bafana Afcon qualifier matches‚” SABC spokesperson Neo Momodu said on Wednesday.

The SABC has been paying Safa R110m for the broadcast rights to the Bafana‚ Banyana Banyana and junior national team matches for the past three years.

But the cash-strapped public broadcaster offered just R10m for the same rights for a new deal after the initial contract expired in April.

Safa acting CEO Russell Paul said the two parties had met two weeks ago in a fresh bid to look at ways to work with each other for future Bafana home matches, but nothing came of the meeting.

Paul said Safa had tried to come up with a concept of a pay-as-you-go arrangement with the SABC as there was no contract in place between the two parties‚ but again it yielded no positive results. “We have discussed with the SABC opportunities and possibilities of how we can work with each other on a game-by-game arrangement, but still they have declined‚” Paul said.

Kickoff for the Bafana match is at 3pm on Saturday on two pay-TV SuperSport channels – SS4 and SS10.

Banyana play their Nigerian counterparts a day later (SS4, 5.15pm).

Banyana have been drawn with Nigeria‚ Zambia and Kenya in Group B for the tournament to be staged in Ghana from Sunday to December 1.

The annual Nelson Mandela Challenge Cup versus Paraguay on Tuesday at Durban’s Moses Mabhida Stadium will also not be televised live on SABC platforms.

Meanwhile, Nigeria have been given a cash incentive to score goals in the Afcon qualifier against SA after the governor of Delta State, Ifeanyi Okowa, pledged US$25‚000 (R360‚000) for every time they found the back of the net on Saturday.

Okowa made the announcement when he visited the team during training on Tuesday.

He did not say whether the offer was made in his private capacity or using public funds.

“I am pleased to have the Super Eagles here in Asaba‚” Okowa told the team.

“We hope you make Asaba your home and, as a people, we will begin to follow your progress even more closely.

“For every goal scored by the Super Eagles in Johannesburg on Saturday‚ we pledge a reward of $25‚000.

“Please don’t put a limit to the number of goals – try and score as many as possible.”

If the team manage three goals against Bafana, they will split more than R1m – though it is still small change for most of them‚ who are on big contracts in Europe.