Zimpapers Logo

Philip Chiyangwa

Council of Southern Africa Football Associations (Cosafa) has received three nominations from within its membership for the vacant African Anglophone position on the Fifa General Council and will decide in the coming days which single candidate to endorse.

A position on the Fifa body has become open after the resignation of Ghana Football Association president Kwesi Nyantakyi and is open to only candidates from English-speaking countries on the continent.

Safa president, Danny Jordaan, president of the Football Association of Malawi Walter Nyamilandu-Manda and president of the Seychelles Football Federation Elvis Chetty have all signalled their desire to be considered.

The deadline for submissions of nominations to Fifa is on Friday, and as per prior agreement with its members, only one name will be put forward from the Cosafa region to contest the vacant seat.

The election for the open position on the Fifa General Council will take place on September 30.

“We will assess the manifestos of all three candidates in the coming days and select the individual, who we believe will best represent the Cosafa region in the elections for the vacant seat on the Fifa General Council,” said Cosafa President Phillip Chiyangwa.

“We decided as Cosafa in February 2016 that should a continental or Fifa position become vacant, Cosafa would first and foremost support one of its own and in order to present a strong candidate for the position, we should support only one individual.

“We have received three excellent candidates and now face the difficult task of determining which of their nominations to put forward to Fifa by Friday.”

With the resignation of Nyantakyi, Africa now has seven members of the Fifa General Council, including vice-president Ahmad, who is also president of Caf, and general secretary Fatma Samoura (Senegal).

The others are Tarek Bouchamaoui (Tunisia), Almamy Kabele Camara (Guinea), Lydia Nsekera (Burundi), Constant Omari (DR Congo) and Hany Abo Rida (Egypt). — Cosafa.