Jordaan In Support Of Wenger’s New Calendar Proposal

SAFA president Danny Jordaan says he and his NEC will have a meeting before the end of the month where they will approve the change of FIFA calendar that was proposed by FIFA’s Chief of Global Football Development Arsene Wenger.

Jordaan said the football association’s NEC meeting will be on 17 September where they will take a decision to be in favour of the new calendar proposed by the former Arsenal coach after the current one had ended in 2023 and 2024.

Wenger has been in countries mobilising support with some of the great players who have played the game, to play a role informing their respective associations to support the idea.

The Frenchman also suggested fewer international breaks and staging the World Cup every two years, though the latter idea has been criticised heavily by member associations who feel it will devalue the World Cup.

Other ideas Wenger proposals include: Confederation tournaments (including the European Championship and AFCON ) in odd years;

Either one (October) or two (October and March) mid-season international breaks, for a month in total, when qualifying for major tournaments will take place, rather than the current five windows;

Guaranteed rest periods of 25 days for players once tournaments are over.

FIFA will hold an online summit with its member associations on 30 September to discuss the international men’s and women’s calendars.

The current match calendar for the women’s game runs to the end of 2023, while the men’s expires in 2024.

Jordaan said these proposals are brilliant and will see Bafana perform better, adding that the Bafana side that lost to Angola in the CHAN qualifiers was poor because clubs released players they don’t use.

“We are going to have a SAFA NEC meeting and we are going to discuss this match calendar because we support the idea of Arsene Wenger,” said Jordaan.

“That, instead of players being released to the national teams and coming back to the clubs, is not working.

“In September, you have five days you must play two matches, and you cannot organise that anywhere in Africa. So when you play Sierra Leone or you play Liberia, you must go to Doha or Dubai or to Paris to go to Monrovia, and come back and the next day you play a second match at home.

“So what you see in world football, all counties who have qualified for AFCON (that was held in Cameroon earlier this year) and World Cup, come from the North and West of Africa. Why? Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria, they are two hours away from Europe and two hours back. It is the same with Senegal.

“South Africa, since we are sitting on the tip of the continent, it is 10 hours here and 10 hours back.”

In the latest edition of iDiski Times, we assess the current Bafana Bafana squad and look at coach Hugo Broos’ decision to recall Themba Zwane to the fold. We also hear from former Kaizer Chiefs boss Ernst Middendorp who opens up on his time at Naturena, his ‘wars’ with Pitso Mosimane and a whole lot more. Read the FREE full edition of iDiski Times below: