Re-elected Jordaan throws weight behind Infantino’s FIFA Forward Enterprise plan

Jordaan was re-elected yesterday at the SAFA elective congress by a landslide, beating his challenger, Sandile Zungu, 157 votes to 82. 

Jordaan joined some African countries that have publicly endorsed Infantino for re-election in March next year, after he faced global backlash over his FFE plan...

"We support Gianni Infantino, and I'll tell you why. The issue pertains to private investment in football business. 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."

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Jordaan, who has been a SAFA president since 2013, when he took over from Kirsten Nematandandani, revealed in a press conference post the elective congress in Midrand that one of the first calls he got after his re-election yesterday was from Infantino and CAF President Patrice Motsepe. 

With Bafana Bafana having just returned from the FIFA 2026 World Cup in Mexico and the USA, Jordaan says the notion that SAFA regional structures have not done anything at the developmental level is unfounded.

One of the dominant questions leading into these elections has been about Jordaan’s statement after his re-election in 2022, when he beat Ria Ledwaba and Solly Mohlabeng, that it would be his last term. When asked why he’s gone back on his word, Jordaan says the will of the SAFA regions needs to be respected...

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

"We are having a workshop with FIFA to deal with vision 2030."

The 41-member SAFA NEC that was elected yesterday included five women, an improvement from three in the previous SAFA leadership, but it is dominated by members from the Football Transformation (FTF) camp of Jordaan, with only four from the Save Our SAFA (SOS) group who were backing Zungu. It’s also a mix of youth and experience, with the majority of the NEC members having served in leadership during Jordaan’s third term.