South Africa FA Welcomes Olympics Postponement

The South Africa Football governing body, SAFA, on Thursday welcomed the decision to postpone the 2020 Olympics amid efforts to contain the coronavirus pandemic.

In an interview, SAFA president Danny Jordaan said the Olympic Committee has taken the correct decision, which will ease the tension on country’s U-23 team that will take part in the games.

“This is the time for decisive action and putting the health of athletes first. While we state our clear position on the matter, we do feel for the players who worked hard over 3 years to qualify for the Olympics, South Africa’s second successive qualification after Rio 2016,” said SAFA President Dr Danny Jordaan.

“We were confident that with so many high-quality stars in the South African Olympic squad, this team could have made it to the second round and knock-out stages of the Tokyo Olympics.”

South Africa U-23 qualified for the 2020 Olympics in November last year after beating Ghana 6-5 on penalties following a 2-2 draw at the U-23 AFCON 3^rd and4th playoff match in Egypt.

They had already started preparations as they were scheduled to face Japan in an international friendly on March 27 in Kyoto to prepare for the Olympic Games that were to take place in Tokyo in July.

“We want to thank head coach David Notoane who has done a magnificent job in building a highly competitive Olympic team and therefore understand his disappointment in not participating in the second-highest competition in world football,” Jordaan noted.

“We will keep in touch with FIFA and hope in the case of the Euro finals which has been moved to 2021 and Copa America also moved to 2021, that IOC and FIFA will also consider these options where players can participate in a safe and non-threatening medical environment.”