As TimesLive Sport’s Mahlatse Mphahlele reports, football’s governing body finds itself in a financial bind and has battled to pay salaries and match fees.
The South African Football Association will present their financial turnaround strategy to Sport, Arts and Culture Minister Gayton McKenzie after their next national executive committee meeting early next year.
This comes after the department advanced SAFA R5m from their 2025 grant so the organisation could pay Bafana Bafana and Banyana Banyana bonuses and staff salaries.
SAFA said their financial problems were a result of insufficient sponsorship revenue and having to deal with escalating costs for Bafana and Banyana during their respective qualifying campaigns.
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“Unfortunately our sponsorship funding, which we heavily rely on, has not been sufficient in recent times to meet our monthly obligations, over and above other costs that arise due to the hosting and participation of our national teams in international competitions,” said SAFA CEO Lydia Monyepao. “Despite the reduction in our financial resources due to the tough economic climate in the country and other reasons beyond our control, the association has not stopped investing significantly in the preparation and participation of competitive South African national teams on the international stage (from U15s to senior men and women) that have continued to make the country proud.”
On the field, things have not been bad for Bafana, with coach Hugo Broos and his Africa Cup of Nations bronze medallists having qualified for next year’s tournament in Morocco.
African champions Banyana have qualified for the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations after a 2-0 (3-1 aggregate) victory over Burkina Faso in a game that also served as farewell for veteran defender Janine van Wyk.
Next year’s WAFCON will also be held in Morocco and Banyana have been drawn in Group C, where they will face Ghana, Mali and Tanzania.
