South African football officials have come out to blame the countries failure to land the hosting rights for the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations on “political” reasons.
South Africa were beaten by a 16-1 vote in favour of Egypt in Senegal on Tuesday with a CAF insider linking the rainbow nations loss to their decision to back the winning Canada/Mexico/United States 2026 World Cup bid instead of fellow Africans Morocco.
The CAF executive committee preferred Egypt to South Africa as replacements for original hosts Cameroon, who were dropped due to delays in preparations and concerns over security. It will be the fifth time Egypt stage the biennial showpiece of African football after 1959, when the country was called the United Arab Republic, 1974, 1986 and 2006.