Safa’s NEC has a big dilemma

Sy Lerman

It looms as an unenviable problem for Safa’s national executive committee when it converges shortly to decide whether to support the three-pronged American conglomerate of the United States, Mexico and Canada or Morocco in the bid to stage a reformed 48-nation World Cup in 2026.

Judging by recent pronouncements, it’s a case of who to follow – Safa’s own dominant and persuasive president, Danny Jordaan, or government sources, no less.

After US President Donald Trump in typical fashion not only inserted a political element into the 2026 World Cup race that conflicted with Fifa’s regulations, and trumpeted veiled threats of reprisals to those nations who do not vote in favour of the joint US-Mexico-Canada enterprise.

Not to be outdone, government officials here came out with the assertion that South Africa should not support Morocco because of political differences with the North African nation apparently unrelated to football.

But, going back a mere couple of weeks, Jordaan made his views on the issue quite clear by throwing his lot wholeheartedly behind the Morocco bid.

Safa, however, then added to the murky waters of confusion by releasing a statement to the effect that no decision had yet been taken regarding whether to support Morocco or the three-nation American bid for the 2026 World Cup.

And the NEC will now ostensibly take a calculated decision on who to support when Fifa’s congress decide on the 2026 hosting during next month’s World Cup extravaganza in Russia.

The dilemma, of course, is that Jordaan, who is generally considered to have omnipotent control on the activities of Safa, had already declared that South Africa would support Morocco as a fellow-African nation – adding how well South Africa had staged the World Cup in 2010.

Previously, with its strong financial clout and a maze of topclass facilities already available, the combined bid from the United States, Canada and Mexico was initially considered odds-on favourite for 2026.