FINALLY, PSL chairman Irvin Khoza and Safa president Danny Jordaan seem to be speaking in one voice regarding the restart of local football.
Safa are now saying that working with the PSL will also open the door and convince Fifa and Caf to resume international competitions.
If that doesn’t happen and local football does not restart, it means all international competitions cannot take place too and things will be more complicated.
Firstly, players have to play for their clubs to be match fit and be picked by national teams. Failure to do that, means things are doom.
Bafana have already suffered a setback. They were supposed to play in March in the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) qualifiers against Sao Tome, but those games were postponed by Caf. Caf also postponed June qualifiers.
Jordaan said that Safa are in the same boat as the PSL and they are doing everything in their power to see the PSL resume. Safa are also under pressure to finalise everything with French sports brand Lecoq Sportif after Nike pulled off in January.
SunSport understands that Lecoq and Safa have signed a 10-year deal, but again, as things are, they cannot do anything until things are clear.
“As I’m talking to you, I’m responding to Fifa to check on their inputs about the international football. I’m talking about issues raised by Fifa when it comes to international competitions. International competitions are more complicated because our players must first come from Europe to South Africa, but there are no flights at the moment (due to lockdown restrictions),” said Jordaan.
“But in order for Bafana to play, we need a domestic leagues to play because you cannot have players not playing in the domestic leagues and you want them to play at the international competitions; the players must be match fit, they must come from a competitive environment, in this case the PSL, before they go to Bafana to international competitions.”
Jordaan, along with Khoza, were tasked to deliver the NSL Covid-19 Health and Safety Directive 2019-20 season protocols that was complied by JLC. They since met Sports Minister Nathi Mthethwa yesterday via Zoom.
As Health Minister Dr Zweli Mkhize was in Port Elizabeth yesterday, he also met Jordaan and discussed these issues. Fifa made it clear that any domestic league keen to resume domestic football must consult with its government departments.
In SA, the departments in questions are health, sports and transports, with the latter providing safety protocols from travelling from one province to another. “Domestic competition must commence before you can have international competitions,” added Jordaan.
