South Africa is not considering offering itself as an alternate host for the African Nations Championship (CHAN) after Kenya were stripped of the rights last weekend‚ said South African Football Association (Safa) president Danny Jordaan on Wednesday.
The CHAN-2018 finals are now up in limbo after the Confederation of African Football (CAF) decided Kenya was not capable of hosting the 16-team event.
The decision was made by the CAF executive committee‚ which includes Jordaan‚ in Ghana at the weekend after an inspection team had been to Nairobi.
CAF said there had been too many delays in putting together the 16-team tournament and opened bidding for a new host.
Bids must be in by this Sunday but will not include South Africa‚ which hosted the CHAN-2014 tournament and because of its ready infrastructure is a country often turned to in moments of crisis and has served as an emergency host for CAF events.
“The problem for us is the release of players‚” said Jordaan‚ referring to the unwillingness of the Premier Soccer League (PSL) clubs to release players for national duty outside of dates on the co-ordinated FIFA international calendar. “
“It would be a fight to get a decent team and would offer few positive outcomes‚” he told TimesLIVE.
Morocco are likely to step in as they continue their promotional efforts to boost their country’s ties with other African states through football.
They are also bidding to host the 2026 World Cup.
CAF also need a host for the 2020 African Women’s Championship after receiving no bids.
South Africa previously hosted the event in 2000‚ 2004 and 2010.
But Jordaan said South Africa would be keen on the 2024 African Under-23 Championship‚ which serve as the qualifiers for the Paris Olympics.
Egypt have taken over from Zambia as hosts of the next U-23 Championship in 2020.
- TimesLIVE
Just R20 for the first month. Support independent journalism by subscribing to our digital news package. 