Jordaan backs Infantino as FIFA investment plan faces consultation criticism

Re-elected South African Football Association (SAFA) president Danny Jordaan has endorsed FIFA president Gianni Infantino’s bid for another term, while supporting the idea of private investment in football despite concerns over how his FIFA Forward Enterprise proposal was handled.

Jordaan won a fourth term at SAFA’s elective congress in Midrand on Sunday, defeating AmaZulu president Sandile Zungu by 157 votes to 82.

His victory places him among the African football leaders to have publicly backed Infantino before next year’s FIFA presidential election in Morocco.

Infantino’s FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE) plan has attracted criticism because it aims to bring private investment into football-related businesses. Jordaan said he supported the principle behind the proposal but believed FIFA members should have been consulted more fully.

“We support Gianni Infantino, and I’ll tell you why. The issue pertains to private investment in football business,” Jordaan said.

“In England, a lot of the teams are completely owned by corporate entities and managed by private equity. The Spanish La Liga is also partly owned by a private investment company. PSG is owned by a country, Qatar.

“I don’t agree with the lack of consultation with the FIFA members.”

Jordaan, 74, first became SAFA president in 2013, succeeding Kirsten Nematandani. He said Infantino and CAF president Patrice Motsepe were among the first people to contact him to offer congratulations after his re-election.

The SAFA president also dismissed suggestions that the association’s regional structures had failed to support football development, particularly after Bafana Bafana’s participation at the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

His decision to stand again was one of the central issues surrounding the election. Jordaan had said in 2022 that his third term would be his last, but argued that the decision to continue was made by SAFA’s regions rather than by him personally.

“I don’t appoint myself within SAFA even if you may think that way, because SAFA is a democratic organisation. Tomorrow they can have a vote of no confidence and I’ll be out,” he said.

“We can’t have someone new come in and start from day one in terms of placing South Africa in the global context.”

Jordaan said SAFA would also begin working with FIFA on its Vision 2030 programme as the association entered a new four-year cycle.

“We are having a workshop with FIFA to deal with Vision 2030,” he said.