Safa kick the ball back to the PSL

South African Football Association CEO Tebogo Motlanthe has reiterated that they are ready and willing for the season to restart on 1 August, but are waiting on the Premier Soccer League’s Board of Governor’s meeting tomorrow, where the league is expected to make a final decision on whether or not to complete the 2019/20 campaign.

Safa have been widely accused of slowing down the process with regard to a return to action in the Absa Premiership, Nedbank Cup and GladAfrica Championship, with the PSL putting out a statement last week, where they said that they had wanted to start the campaign last Saturday, but were held up because Safa had said their referees would not be ready until the first week of August.

“We have called the referees and the first batch are arriving tomorrow to start with medical tests,” said Motlanthe yesterday, in an interview with the South African Football Journalists Association.

“As far as the association is concerned, we have been able to deliver all the services from our side. The league said they still need to consult their stakeholders, the date of 1 August had not been agreed by them (yet).”

Safa issued a statement yesterday saying that they had received a letter from Fifa, allowing them to extend the season beyond the end of next month.

“Fifa has written to Safa advising them that they can extend the completion of the current Premier Soccer League season in terms of the Transfer Management System (TMS),” read the statement.

“In the same context, Fifa has given Safa the mandate to amend the start of the PSL next season (2020/21), and this may require us to amend the registration periods provided in the TMS.”

PSL clubs have returned to training, under strict compliance guidelines, and the league had intend to play the season out in a Biologically Safe Environment in Gauteng.

Motlanthe said the confusion over whether the league had indeed been cleared to start the season came from government, with different letters apparently sent to the PSL and Safa.

The PSL have said they received a letter from the sports ministry on 23 June clearing them to restart the season.

“It looks (now) like we are a stumbling block, but we are making it as easy as possible...we are happy if the league and the government take the responsibility (for anything going wrong).”