SAFA presidential hopeful Sandile Zungu has disclosed his lofty FIFA World Cup ambitions if elected to the biggest job in South African football.
The AmaZulu FC chairman will stand against incumbent Danny Jordaan for the elections set for Saturday. Addressing a media conference at the Maslow Hotel in Sandton on Monday, Zungu said he is keen to score a first as SAFA president: seeing both Bafana Bafana and Banyana Banyana become world champions.
No global football powerhouse has achieved this feat; only Spain and Germany have won both the men’s and women’s World Cups. Also, no African senior national football side has ever won the World Cup.
But Zungu has declared his intention to steer South African football to heights that look impossible. However, Jordaan stands in his way, bidding for a fourth term.
“I want South Africa to be the number one football nation in Africa, the undisputed number one on a consistent basis and to be in the top-10 in the world, consistently and intentional,” declared Zungu while also insisting on the quality of refereeing, infrastructure, women’s football and talent development systems.
“When we satisfy all these measures, we can move on even to a bigger ambition. That big ambition is for South Africa to become the first African nation in history to win both FIFA men’s World Cup and the FIFA Women’s World Cup.
“That must become our mission. Some will hear those words and say the ambition is too big. For too long, our ambitions for South African football have been too small, too fragmented and too disconnected from one another.”
“We find it very easy and quick to celebrate mediocrity, and we hang on to it until the cattle come home.”
INTIMIDATION, VOTE FRAUD ALLEGATIONS ROCK BUILD-UP TO SAFA ELECTIONS
The run-up to Saturday’s vote has been rocked by allegations of some regions being threatened for associating themselves with Zungu. But the Usuthu boss is unfazed, declaring that he will cruise to the SAFA top job.
“We are very confident that victory is certain come the 12th of September. We are absolutely confident of that,” added Zungu.
“Fifty plus one percent is too low an ambition. We are aiming for much higher than that. It must be a clean sweep… we may as well begin victory celebrations.
“I want to thank people who have come out in the open to support me. They didn’t have to come out and declare support for Zungu because the repercussions can be quite harsh, suspensions and so on.”
Backing Zungu’s candidature includes high-profile names like Orlando Pirates captain Thulani Hlatshwayo, Abel Mabaso and Mamelodi Sundowns legend Mike Ntombela, who attended Monday’s media conference.
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