South African Football Association president Danny Jordaan admitted that politics were behind South Africa missing out on hosting the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations.

South Africa were thought to be favourites to step in as hosts after Cameroon were stripped of the rights in November due to security and infrastructure concerns in November last year.

However, on Tuesday the Confederation of African Football (Caf) revealed that they had voted for Egypt to host the tournament, leaving the North Africans with just six months to prepare for the event.

With South Africa having hosted Afcon in 1996 and then again in 2013, as they stepped in for war-torn Libya, Jordaan believes that the country was the best option to step in as hosts and that politics were behind the decision to take the tournament to the North Africans.

‘If you compare South Africa with Egypt, we clearly have an advantage because we have the infrastructure, the experience … just everything in place,’ Jordaan told City Press.

‘The politics are another matter. Arab countries are very entrenched and Caf’s headquarters are in Cairo.’

‘The bidding process was a late thing. We wrote to Caf to say they must give us details of what to expect from the government. Normally, the requirement would be infrastructure. There will be no cost incurred for infrastructure,’ cocnluded the Safa president.