The South African Football Association (SAFA) has turned its back on hosting this year’s COSAFA Cup.
SAFA has explained that their decision is due to the fact that the tournaments drain government resources and therefore hinder them from accessing funding.
South Africa has hosted the last five editions of the COSAFA Cup, with the regional body having 14 member countries.
SAFA CEO Tebogo Motlanthe said that hosting the COSAFA tournament diverts government money for the national team and local municipalities are often called to cover expenses.
“We are saying, let us not be burdened with tournaments which we have not bid for….. Because at some point, they go against our own priorities as the association,” Motlanthe said as quoted by SABC Sports. “When you go to different government departments they say their budgets have been spent on COSAFA tournaments… Because that is classified as football. So we have taken a firm decision that we must write to them to say we have hosted as a country and it is enough, give others a chance.”
SAFA urges other countries to host COSAFA this year
He further urged other countries in the southern region to bid to host the COSAFA tournament this year.
“We don’t want to be portrayed as a greedy country, which wants everything…. And we believe that there is capacity within the zone to host. Like I said previously, Botswana and Namibia are bidding to host the AFCON….. So there is no way they cannot be able to host a tournament of COSAFA magnitude,” Motlanthe added.
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South Africa is currently bidding to host the 2027 Women’s World Cup, despite having successfully hosted the 2010 World Cup. They will face stiff competition from Brazil, the United States of America, and Canada, who have a joint bid, while Belgium, Germany, and the Netherlands have a combined bid.
