by Patson Phiri – SANF 06 No 100
The state of southern Africa’s football comes under the spotlight when the sport’s administrators meet in Botswana on 2 December for a crucial meeting that will also decide who leads the region for the next five years.
Three candidates are vying for the opportunity to head the Council for Southern African Football Association (COSAFA).
The new president will replace Botswana’s Ismail Bhamjee who quit the post in June following a ticket scandal during the Germany 2006 FIFA World Cup finals.
The three candidates are Zambia’s soccer legend, Kalusha Bwalya; Namibian High Court judge, Petrus Damaseb; and Suketu Patel of Seychelles.
Bwalya is perhaps southern Africa’s best footballer of an era. He is the only footballer from the region to have won the coveted African Footballer of the Year Award, in 1988. He is the current vice president of the Football Association of Zambia (FAZ).
Zambian authorities have written to ministers of sports in the other 12 COSAFA member states urging them to back the candidature of Bwalya, who is also one of South Africa’s 11 ambassadors for the 2010 World Cup.
Damaseb is the reigning COSAFA vice-president and has also served as president of the Namibian Football Association.
Patel is president of the Seychelles Football Federation and a member of the executive committee of the Confederation of African Football.
The outcome of the voting will be determined on the basis of simple majority where the candidate with the highest votes wins the right to lead southern African football.
Each member association will send three delegates, who will be eligible to cast their votes during the Cosafa general assembly.
COSAFA members are Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Madagascar, Mauritius Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
The Gaborone meeting comes at a time when the standard of football in southern Africa is at its lowest level. Teams from the region have failed to impress in continental tournaments such as the Africa Cup of Nations.
The new COSAFA president is expected to lead the renaissance of the region’s football ahead of the 2010 FIFA World Cup being hosted by South Africa.
The challenge will be to have more southern African countries participating and excelling when the sport’s biggest showcase comes to the region in less than three years.
Currently the council organises the COSAFA Castle Cup, which has grown in stature since inauguration in 1997 as it continues to bring the region’s soccer community together.
Live television coverage, unprecedented for a competition of this nature, takes the event into the homes of people right throughout Africa, parts of Europe and South America.
The tournament is one of a kind on the international calendar that boasts of a wide reach.
On top of a brilliant competition, the Cosafa Castle Cup also offers record prize money and other financial incentives for the players.
Angola, Zambia and Zimbabwe have each won the trophy three times while South Africa has only won it once.
