23 October 2017 – The South African Football Association (SAFA) on Saturday, 21 October 2017 went through a highly successful Extraordinary Constitutional Congress which passed a number of wide-ranging resolutions including administrative changes.
SAFA President Dr Danny Jordaan who chaired the Congress a day after he presided over the SAFA NEC meeting, said he was excited with the general participation of the delegates and all of football’s stakeholders.
The Congress was attended by among others, Deputy Minister of Sport and Recreation SA, Hon Gert Oosthuizen who gave the opening remarks, COSAFA President, Phillip Chiyangwa, sponsors and several other dignitaries.
The Congress approved that the Association will create new administrative posts of a chief operating officer and chief financial officer. These posts are scheduled to be filled early next year once the new organogram has been finalised.
On the competitions side, the Congress approved the creation of the new Women National League which will be made up of all 9 Provincial sides, Mamelodi Sundowns, Bloemfontein Celtic and a USSA side. There are several other PSL teams that have shown interest in forming women teams and the Congress left the door open to increase the number of the National League teams from 12 to 16.
A SAFA delegation headed by Dr Jordaan spent a week in Spain recently where part of the cooperation agreement between the Association and LaLiga was to work together in establishing successful women structures.
The Congress also passed a resolution for the creation of a Super Cup that will see a single club champion from winners of the PSL League, Telkom Knockout, MTN8 and Nedbank Cup champions playing for the Super title with the National First Division and ABC Motsepe champions.
The Super Cup idea was also consolidated by meetings in Spain in which the Spain FA runs the Super Cup in the country. This is the global norm in football structures where the FA runs the Super Cup of the country’s clubs.
“All in all, this was one of the most productive meetings ever and I would like to thank the Deputy Minister of Sport, COSAFA President and all the delegates for making sure the weekend meeting was a runaway success,” said SAFA President Dr Jordaan who chaired the proceedings.
“The Congress was a celebratory and joyous event; it showed the power of South African football. The sheer number of delegates, the boisterous debates, the touching address by the SA Deaf Football Association and the input of the government and COSAFA were awesome,” added Dr Jordaan.