COSAFA’s support for Ahmad Ahmad’s run for a second term as Caf president is set to be test in the coming days.
As things stand, the SA Football Association as well as the Botswana FA are not throwing their weight in with the regional lot.
Instead, the two federations are endorsing surprise candidate Patrice Motsepe.
Cosafa have already come out to declare their support for Ahmad, the Malagasy, who enjoyed the full backing of his home region in the last election.
But the region is set to for a huge split over the support of the two candidates.
“Over the past four years, African football has undergone an unprecedented transformation. Today, we, presidents of the six Councils of African Football Associations, call on President Ahmad to run for a second term to continue with his achievement,” Cosafa said.
“We believe that President Ahmad should be a candidate for re-election. If he decides to do so, we will support him. He has brought new impetus to football in Africa.”
However, Safa president Danny Jordaan has differed with the regional body, saying he was never part of the meeting that endorsed Ahmad.
“Our position as Safa is one that we’ve discussed over a long period. Safa did not endorse anyone other than Patrice Motsepe and the decision published in the newspaper is not a Cosafa decision, ” said Jordaan.
"We are Cosafa members. Where was that meeting held? I did speak to the Cosafa president where I said he can’t make announcements when you didn’t call your members for a meeting.
“Ahmad Ahmad is a candidate and what will happen in the future is not known. We have spelt out as to why we believe Patrice must be a candidate in this election.”
Caf will announce the names of the successful candidates to all the national associations ahead of the vote in March, on 11 January.
Ahmad, CAF’s seventh president, was elected in March 2017 after defeating long-serving president Issa Hayatou, on a ticket of transformation.
