Danny Jordaan backtracks on Bafana Bafana's AFCON $7 million bonus comment

Speaking to Thabiso Mosia on Radio 2000’s Game On sport show last night, Jordaan says he was quoted out of context by the media.

This is despite the comments that were shared by SAFA Media, where Jordaan said the players will share the first prize money should they win and get nothing if they lose.

READ: SAFA and Bafana Bafana players conclude AFCON bonus agreement

"No, I did not say a word. That is what CAF has issued, you go back to the CAF statement, CAF is very clear. That is a decision from CAF and we said this is what CAF is offering and it's in the public," Jordaan said.

In 2019 in Egypt, when Bafana bowed out in the quarterfinals, losing 2-1 to Nigeria, the players walked away with R520 000 each.

Jordaan revealed that a similar performance-based arrangement has been agreed on in the latest tournament bonus agreement contract between SAFA and the players.

"The breakdown there is for winning, for second or third or fourth, right through, the structure is there and by implication the structure that you see there is performance based, if you win there, if you come second, if you come third, if you come forth it means that it is performance based and the figures attached to that," Jordaan added.

Media reports went with the headlines of Jordaan promising that Bafana players will share the tournament’s first prize of $7 million (R133 million) but he continues to clarify that this was based on the figures that were released by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) last week, increasing the AFCON prize money by 40 percent.

"I've also seen that in the headlines, maybe it was misunderstood but there is nothing still to be added, CAF has spoken, the release was made and everybody has it," Jordaan added.

Prior to Banyana Banyana’s departure for the FIFA Women’s World Cup in New Zealand and Australia last year, there was a lot of controversy around the team’s bonuses, and questions were asked if SAFA were to top up the bonus scheme that was coming from global football mother body FIFA.

Jordaan says they have learned their lesson from that situation and due to issues of confidentiality, they will not divulge the full bonus structure agreement they have agreed on with the Bafana players.

"I'm unfortunately not gonna talk to you about the details because you don't ask any other national team to give you details and we've decided we're not going to do it. You'll start with all national teams and treat all national teams equally and then we can talk about the details because the problems that we had with the women's team, some of the women stopped playing because of how they were harassed because you were writing in the papers how much money they are going to get.

“So, we cannot be irresponsible and put money in the papers. You must understand that many of our players still live in the township, are people going to knock in their houses and say 'You have money, we know you have money, we saw in the papers'.

“The only thing to say, we've concluded the deal, the players are happy. If they want to tell you how much is in their contracts, it's up to them but from a SAFA point of view, we are definitely not going to talk about money."