South Africa to appeal FIFA's World Cup knock back

The South African Football Association has announced it will appeal FIFA's decision to award the 2006 World Cup to Germany. Irvin Khoza, the association's vice president and chairman of the country's 2006 bid committee, said the decision to lodge an application for arbitration with FIFA came after consultation with international legal experts, the Confederation of African Football, the South African government and bid sponsors.

The South African Football Association has announced it will appeal FIFA's decision to award the 2006 World Cup to Germany. Irvin Khoza, the association's vice president and chairman of the country's 2006 bid committee, said the decision to lodge an application for arbitration with FIFA came after consultation with international legal experts, the Confederation of African Football, the South African government and bid sponsors.

The association had "considered the possible impact of such an unprecedented legal challenge," Khoza added in a statement.

Danny Jordaan, chief executive of the bid committee and the association, said the association was aware of the risks of appealing. "We have, however, a moral and legal obligation to our people, our supporters, and to the African continent to proceed with this matter," he said in the statement.

The South African soccer group said it demonstrated its respect of FIFA as an institution by choosing to pursue the matter with FIFA arbitration instead of filing a civil court claim. It said it based the appeal on Article 59 of the FIFA statute, which gives any country the right to call for arbitration.

In Zurich, FIFA spokesman Andrin Cooper said: "We can't really comment until we receive some form of official communication from them, which to my knowledge has not happened yet." If and when such communication arrived, it would be dealt with by FIFA General Secretary Michel Zen-Ruffinen, Cooper added.

The FIFA executive on July 6 voted 12-11 to award the 2006 World Cup to Germany. Charles Dempsey, Oceania's representative, abstained in the final vote. The South African Football Association said it would name Dempsey as a co-defendant in the arbitration process. The Oceania Football Confederation had instructed Dempsey to vote for South Africa if England was eliminated, which it was in the second round of voting.

Had Dempsey voted for South Africa in the third and final round, FIFA President Sepp Blatter, an avowed supporter of South Africa, would have cast the deciding vote.

Dempsey has blamed "unsustainable pressure" from bidders and threats from "influential European interests" for his decision to abstain from the Zurich ballot. Peter Novak, spokesman for the German Soccer Federation, was surprised by South Africa's decision to appeal.

"FIFA took a clear position after awarding the bid and stated the decision was irreversible. That is also our position because we don't see any reason for the a change," he said.

Two weeks ago, FIFA ruled out a rerun of the controversial vote. "For legal reasons, the vote is over, it's final," FIFA spokesman Andreas Herren said on July 10.

"The executive committee decided on the procedure itself, and the procedure was then carried out in the presence of a Swiss public notary and in complete compliance with the Swiss law."