Safa in bid to get junior dates list

The South African Football Association (Safa) has approached global body Fifa to begin creating international dates for major junior competitions.

Safa acting CEO Russell Paul said this could be the crucial next step in the Fifa international date system‚ which currently guarantees that clubs have to release players to national teams for major qualifying games and tournaments scheduled on those dates.

Paul was responding to a warning last week by Mamelodi Sundowns coach Pitso Mosimane to Safa to get their junior national teams in order.

Mosimane was congratulating Safa on hiring Sundowns’ reserve team coach as SA under-23 coach‚ but questioned the lateness of the appointment‚ just three weeks before the start of the 2020 Olympic qualifiers.

He pointed out that the U23 team of Morocco – where he was completing a section of his Caf Pro Licence qualification last week – had been in camp for weeks.

“In terms of doing things differently we agree that there’s always room for improvement‚” Paul said.

“We said that they need to give consideration to youth tournaments moving forward given the professionalism in those structures now.

“There are no Fifa dates for youth tournaments – to say that we are playing in an U20 qualifier‚ and there is no obligation for clubs to release their players.”