The South African Football Federation’s (SAFA) CEO Russell Paul has expressed disappointment in the manner in which the Confederation of African Football (CAF) conducted the 2019 AFCON bidding process that went in favour of Egypt.
Paul spoke to Soccer Laduma on Wednesday that CAF was not particularly transparent with South Africa.
“I am not qualified to speak about the politics, but we felt the way the entire thing was arranged played a role. The announcement was brought forward by a day and we didn’t even know anything about it. We still don’t know anything officially around it,†Paul told the Soccer Laduma.
“The Egyptians had a full delegation there and we were planning for our delegation to go there (Dakar, Senegal) on the original date that was set. We only heard via the grapevine that the announcement had been moved,†he added.
Paul concluded his reaction by boldly stating that there’s simply no other African nation that is better equipped to host the finals than South Africa.
Read also: OFFICIAL: Egypt to host AFCON 2019
“Without being arrogant, there is no other country on this continent that can display the facilities, infrastructure, and capacity that we have. You can come here and play a game tonight – it’s a plug and play,†he said.
Latest sports news in Ghana