Danny Jordaan faces a tough race for one of two seats on offer in the CAF elections

South African Football Association (Safa) president Danny Jordaan's hopes of a place on the FIFA Council have already been dashed but he will try again on Thursday to win a seat on African football’s inner-cabinet - the Confederation of African Football’s (Caf) executive committee – when the elections are to be held in Addis Ababa.

Jordaan entered both the race for a seat on the Fifa inner circle as well as that of African Football’s governing body‚ but stunned last week when he withdrew from Fifa race.

Becoming one of Africa’s seven representatives on the all-powerful Council had long been a cherished dream for the Safa boss and although he insists it was a tactical move‚ it is an unconvincing‚ and inconceivable‚ that he will have pulled out of a race just as he was about to win.

His decision to pull out of the Fifa Council contest came just hours before Fifa released a list of those who had passed integrity checks before the election.

• Safa president Jordaan surprisingly pulls out of race for place on FIFA council South African Football Association (Safa) president Danny Jordaan has surprisingly pulled out of the race for a place on the Fifa council in a bizarre twist that now leaves the Confederation of African Football (Caf) in an unprecedented election crisis. 

Jordaan said he wanted to go the Caf route first but now faces a tough race for one of two seats on offer for the southern African region.

One of the seats is being vacated by Ahmad of Madagascar and the other is held by former Council of Southern Africa Football Associations (Cosafa) president Suketu Patel of the Seychelles‚ who is running again.

Jordaan‚ Rui Eduardo da Costa (Angola) and Frans Mbidi of Namibia are the three other candidates.

• Safa boss Jordaan on brink of seat on FIFA counsel after rival is disqualified South African Football Association president Danny Jordaan has won a legal victory and moved a step closer to a seat on the FIFA Council after one of his opponents in the upcoming elections was disqualified. 

Ahmad‚ who uses just one name‚ was a shock winner over Jordaan four years ago at the 2013 Congress in Khartoum but is not standing again because he is contesting for the CAF presidency.

Integrity checks conducted by FIFA were for candidates for FIFA Council elections only.

CAF do not have integrity checks for their own elections but plan to bring them in from 2019 onwards.

This is one of several changes to their statutes that the CAF Congress in Ethiopia will be asked to vote on in Addis Ababa on Thursday.

- TMG Digital/TMG Sport