The South Africa Football Association on Monday dismissed claims by some Nigerian media that Stephen Keshi would take over as Bafana Bafana coach, supersport.com reports.
“SAFA has never released a list of candidates that are on the short-list for the Bafana Bafana job,” association spokesman Dominic Chimhavi said.
“Keshi’s name is part of a list of names being bandied about by the media. The list was created by the media and the reports coming out of Nigeria are total fabrication.”
Chimhavi was reacting to unconfirmed reports that Keshi – currently with the Nigerian national team at the World Cup in Brazil –had already signed a two-year contract and would take over as Bafana coach in July.
“There is no truth to those reports,” Chimhavi added.
“When the President of SAFA, Mr. Danny Jordaan, announced that Gordon Igesund’s contract would not be extended, he made it clear that the new coach would be announced in July, following the conclusion of the World Cup.”
Last week, social media websites Twitter and Facebook were abuzz with reaction to the news that Iran coach Carlos Queiroz was about to sign a contract with SAFA.
SAFA denied reports that Queiroz was on his way back to South Africa, having already taken charge of Bafana in 2000.
The vacant Bafana post has seen more than its fair share of speculation since Igesund was told his contract had come to an end and he would not take the national team into the qualifying campaign for the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations, starting in September.
