Danny Jordaan unsure whether he will seek another Safa term in 2030

Danny Jordaan has refused to confirm whether he will stand for another term as president of the South African Football Association (Safa) when his newly secured mandate ends in 2030.

Jordaan, who will be 79 by then, was re-elected for a fourth consecutive term after defeating Sandile Zungu at Safa’s elective congress in Midrand on Saturday. He received 157 votes, while Zungu secured 82, allowing Jordaan to retain the most influential position in South African football.

The result extends Jordaan’s time as Safa president to 17 years. His victory had been widely expected after he spent more than two years lobbying regional structures, despite initially saying he intended to step down.

However, asked whether he would seek to remain in office beyond 2030, Jordaan gave an open-ended response at his post-election press conference. He said the decision ultimately rested with Safa’s members and national executive committee (NEC), rather than with him alone.

“Well, first of all, I don’t appoint myself in Safa, even if you think that way. Safa is a democratic organisation, so tomorrow they can have a vote of no-confidence in me, saying I’m out,” said Jordaan, who is still facing a court case over alleged financial mismanagement.

He added: “I can decide I want to go [and] in their discussions they can say no, give us a little more time because we want the next transition. But one of the things we cannot have [is] somebody that comes in and starts from day one [without prior experience] in terms of placing SA in a global complex.

“You must really ask them [Safa national executive committee (NEC)] why I’m always here.”

Jordaan said Safa already had a succession plan for the eventual change in leadership, but declined to reveal who might be involved or provide further details.

He said Safa would work with Fifa on a long-term programme known as Vision 2030, with football development organised around four-year World Cup cycles.

“We are having a workshop with Fifa to deal with what we call Vision 2030 because, as I said, football is planned in four-year cycles, from one World Cup to the next. We just concluded the 2026 World Cup in Mexico, Canada and US and the next one is in four years, which happens to be in Morocco, Portugal and Spain, so that’s where we are going,” he said.

“In those four years the elements and targets are something that we will work on together with Fifa and this new NEC. I don’t want to talk in detail because it is Safa’s plans.”

Zungu accepted the election result and said he would not challenge the outcome, although he criticised the process used to approve delegates’ credentials.

“I lost, and in the balance of evidence and the overall scheme of things, I should accept the outcome of the elections,” Zungu said.

“The processes leading to the adoption of credentials were less satisfactory but that is not for me to do anything about.”