Amajita players lift the trophy in the press conference after their arrival at OR Tambo International Airport on Tuesday from winning the U-20 Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt. South Africa beat Morocco 1-0 in Sunday's final in Cairo.
Image: Sydney Seshibedi/Gallo Images

The South African Football Association (Safa) will decide after receiving the R6.3m payout from Caf how much they will give to the Amajita players crowned U-20 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) champions in Egypt on Sunday.

Coach Raymond Mdaka's team beat Morocco 1-0 at the June 30 Stadium in Cairo on Sunday to become the third South African football side to win an Afcon after Bafana Bafana (1996) and Banyana Banyana (2022) in the senior men's and women's competitions.

Amajita not only won the trophy but also joined the South Africa U-17 team in qualifying for their World Cup this year. Amajimbos, who reached the quarterfinals of the U-17 Afcon this month, will be one 10 African teams in the 48-side U-17 World Cup in Qatar from November 7 to 27. Amajita will be one of four African sides in the 24-team U-20 World Cup in Chile from September 27 to October 19. 

“We have not received any money from Caf yet,” Safa president Danny Jordaan said on Tuesday. “When we have the money, we'll decide.”

Despite numerous episodes where Safa have had well-documented challenges with cash flow, including this year when staff at Safa House received their salaries late, Jordaan tried hard to paint a picture of a stable association that has always fulfilled its obligations to the players and technical staff. In November last year there were reports of Banyana and Bafana not being paid on time.

“One thing we know is South African football has not missed a football match,” Jordaan said. “We comply with our commitments to even play in Chan. In the past we didn't play in Chan but we play in Chan now.

“We're playing in every competition under Caf and Fifa. That means there's travel and accommodation, daily allowances and everything and we've fulfilled our commitments. 

“There's great respect for what South African football has achieved and we continue to work hard to get the ultimate goal when one of our teams win the World Cup.

“With this U-20 together with other players who didn't play, we hope we'll have full co-operation of our clubs to give the coach all the possibilities in player availability [for their World Cup].

“These players should include those who play in Europe such as Shandre Campbell and other local players, [Orlando Pirates'] Mbekezeli Mbokazi and [Mamelodi Sundowns'] Siyabonga Mabena [who missed the Afcon because they were withheld by their clubs or injured].

“We have a team that can compete with the best in the world and we look forward to the World Cup in Chile,” Jordaan said.

Mdaka and Amajita skipper Patrick Autata credited the Premier Soccer League's DStv Diski Challenge (DDC) U-23 reserve league for playing a huge role in giving young South African young players a platform to fine-tune their skills on a professionally-run stage.

Mdaka said without the DDC it would have been difficult to identify the players he had in Egypt. That his players were playing regularly at club level showed in the Afcon, where Amajita bounced back from a 1-0 defeat to hosts Egypt in their group opener match to win the tournament, beaten Nigeria in the semifinals and Morocco in the final.

“The suitable place to see the players playing was the DDC. We went to most of the games and were fortunate that by the beginning of our first camp the core of this team we see today was there in March when we started preparing the team,” the coach said.

Let's hope we qualify for the World Cup and we can start maybe to integrate some of these young players into the senior national team.

Hugo Broos

“We appreciate [the DDC] because it would be difficult sometimes. Seeing them play made it easy for us to come up with this team.”

Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos, also in attendance to welcome the U-20s, said the players stand a good chance of progressing to the senior team.

“We've seen the performances at Afcon and there are certainly players we have to watch in the next months. But on the other side it should not be a decision we make in haste because they will play in the World Cup and after that we're playing in the [senior] Afcon [in Morocco in December and January].

“Let's see what happens in the next months and we'll follow up closely on what's happening, not only with the national team but with the players in their clubs. This is something we have to watch in the next six months and we'll see after the new year.

“Let's hope we qualify for the World Cup and we can start maybe to integrate some of these young players into the senior national team.”