SAFA admits Amajimbos World Cup prep is hampered by funding crisis

The team has not played an international match since they qualified from the last Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) tournament in Morocco earlier this year (April).

This was also the case for the Amajita team, who recently took part in the FIFA U20 World Cup in Chile.

SAFA CEO Lydia Monyepao says lack of funding is their biggest challenge.

"Look at Morocco, for instance, during the international break, the senior and junior teams will be in camp and playing friendly matches, because they have the funding for it.

"At the moment, we are a few steps back in relation to funding our teams, especially the juniors."

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Amajimbos are only assembling on Sunday and departing for Qatar on the 30th of this month, which would be just four days before their opening game against Bolivia.

This is not enough for a team competing in the World Cup, and Monyepao says it is not their intention to ill-equip teams for the big tournaments.

Amajimbos will be missing close to 90% of their core team that played at the AFCON in Morocco earlier this year, owing to injuries, registration issues, and exams.

Insufficient preparation makes it difficult for the technical team to be competitive in the final tournament.

Monyepao admits that something could be handled better.

"We were instructed to register a preliminary squad for the tournament, which we did; however, there were two players FIFA flagged because their passports had expired. 

"We need to put more support towards the administration of our teams."

Amongst the key players, head coach Vela Khumalo will be missing for this tournament are captain Bokamoso Mokokosi and attacker Siphiwe Mlondo.

SAFA is mainly funded through Bafana Bafana sponsors, and the junior national teams also receive funding from this source. Just after confirming Adidas as a new technical sponsor today, SABC Sport understands that SAFA is lining up more sponsorship announcements with top-tier partners in the next few weeks.

Monyepao says their qualification for the World Cup will open more doors for them commercially.