Johannesburg – With the 2021 Fifa Club World Cup on South African soil fast becoming a reality, the debate is raging over which team between Mamelodi Sundowns and Kaizer Chiefs will represent the country.
Al Ahly will represent Africa after Pitso Mosimane’s side won the CAF Champions League by defeating Chiefs 3-0.
The host country will have to have a team and with Sundowns being the local league champions and Amakhosi having reached the CAF Champions League finals this year, it is not clear who will be chosen to fly Mzansi’s flag.
Safa president Danny Jordaan said the matter was still under discussion.
“You only have one host club, should it be PSL champions Mamelodi Sundowns or Chiefs? The losing finalists were Chiefs but this can be resolved and debated by Safa,” he told Sunday World.
Sunday World broke the story two weeks ago that the South African Football Association (Safa) indicated to Fifa that they wanted to host this massive tournament, to be held in December, after Japan pulled out early this month.
The Japanese football federation withdrew after the strain of hosting the Olympic Games and also due to the Covid-19 pandemic tribulations.
Jordaan was in Lagos, Nigeria attending the Aisha Buhari Cup where he had discussions with Fifa president Gianni Infantino and secretary-general Fatma Samoura regarding hosting the tournament.
Not a lot of countries have expressed interest in replacing Japan except Brazil, which organised the 2021 Copa America in June. But news coming from South America is the Brazilians are pulling out as well, leaving South Africa as frontrunners.
English Premiership giants and Uefa Champions League winners Chelsea will represent Europe, with Auckland City taking the spot for Asia.
This means that South African supporters can brace themselves to see the likes of N’Golo Kante, Romelu Lukaku, Trevor Chalobah and Thioago Silva to mention but a few, live in action.
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