Danny Jordaan asked to consider senior position on Fifa council

Danny Jordaan has been asked to take advantage of an opportunity for a top position in Fifa that could see the South African Football Association (Safa) president follow in German legend Franz Beckenbauer and French counterpart Michel Platini’s footsteps.

Officials within Fifa‚ the Confederation of African Football (Caf) and the Council of Southern Africa Football Associations (Cosafa) recently approached Jordaan and made the request to vie for the vacant position on the world football governing body’s all-powerful council.

The elections will be held in Cairo on September 30 and Safa communication manager Dominic Chimhavi said Jordaan was ready to serve wherever football takes him.

‘‘He has the backing of Cosafa and the Cosafa president [Phillip Chiyangwa] has made it clear that [Jordaan] is the preferred candidate‚" said Chimhavi.

Beckenbauer and Platini ascended to seats on the then Fifa executive committee (now the Fifa council) after leading their countries’ winning World Cup bids (France 1998 and Germany 2006).

Jordaan spearheaded SA’s 2006 and 2010 World Cup bids.

The position on the Fifa council became available after a television documentary showed Ghana Football Association president Kwesi Nyantakyi accepting a $65,000 bribe from undercover reporters posing as businessmen early in June.

Nyantakyi resigned in the aftermath of the revelations and his position will be contested by only English-speaking football associations on the continent.

Jordaan currently serves on Caf’s executive committee but would have to vacate his seat if he were elected to the Fifa council.

He won the seat in 2017 moments after Madagascar’s Ahmad Ahmad stunned continental football when he beat Issa Hayatou to become new Caf president.

The Safa president is in Russia attending the final stages of the 2018 World Cup.