Safa president Danny Jordaan loses out on his bid for a seat on the FIFA Council

South African Football Association president Danny Jordaan lost out on his bid for a seat on the FIFA Council on Sunday‚ beaten by a rogue candidate after a second round of voting at the special Confederation of African football congress in Sharm-El-Sheikh‚ Egypt.

Football Association of Malawi president Walter Nyamilandu won the vacant seat for Anglophone African countries on the all-powerful cabinet of world football’s governing body with a majority 35 votes to Jordaan’s 18 in a second round of voting.

Jordan had been the preferred candidates of the southern African region but Nyamilandu did not stand down as had been hoped.

Instead he became an alternate anti-Jordaan candidate for CAF president Ahmad‚ who has received a significant boost to his own re-election hopes with the victory of his preferred candidate amid speculation that he was beginning to lose support.

Jordaan was always up against it after the South African government told him to vote against Morocco’s attempt to win the right to host the 2026 World Cup.

South Africa’s strained diplomatic relations saw Jordaan cast the SAFA vote at June’s FIFA Congress in Russia for the united bid of Canada‚ Mexico and the USA.

This infuriated Ahmad‚ who has been close to the Moroccans since his election two years ago with the north Africans bankrolling a host of his projects and also offering him medical care when he suffered a heart problem.

Jordaan has now lost out in three bids for a place at the FIFA high table – which carries with it immense power in the game‚ a champagne lifestyle and generous remuneration and allowances.

This time he was up against Nyalimandu and Leodegar Tenga of Tanzania.

In the first round of voting Nyamilandu received 23 votes‚ Jordaan 16 and Tenga 14.

As no majority of 50 percent plus one vote was attained‚ the bottom candidate fell out of the race and the top two went for another round of voting.

It had been hoped that many of Tenga’s votes would swing to Jordaan but heavy canvasing from Ahmad’s camp saw the poll go the way of Nyamilandu.

The Malawian‚ who works as a marketing executive for a sugar company in Blantyre‚ is a former international midfielder who played against Bafana Bafana in World Cup qualifiers in 1996.

The position on the FIFA General Council became open after the resignation of Ghana Football Association president Kwesi Nyantakyi and was contested only by candidates from English-speaking countries on the continent.