England and South Africa, fierce adversaries in the race to stage the 2006 World Cup, showed there were no hard feelings between the two yesterday when Danny Jordaan, the Chief Executive of the South African Football Federation (SAFA) and former leader of the South African bid, made a 12-hour visit to London to spend a day at The Football Association.

Accompanied by Irvin Khoza, SAFA Vice President, Jordaan had meetings with his opposite number, Adam Crozier, and with the FA's Technical, Marketing and Referees' departments, all with the aim of learning from the English game how to improve the structures of football in South Africa.

Discussions covered a number of issues of mutual interest, including future international fixtures at all levels and anti-racism strategies. In particular, SAFA are keen to benefit from English expertise in the areas of technical cooperation, referee development and the commercialisation of the game.

For The FA, the meetings conform with the objectives of the FA's new International Relations section whose remit is to proactively promote the strengths of English football around the world, positioning English football as a leader in the world game and to make England the leader in football development throughout the world.

The F.A.'s International Relations section was established in the summer and falls under the direction of David Davies, Executive Director.

The section was set up to coordinateThe FA's work abroad and as a recognition of its responsibilities to help others work towards achieving their potential. As the world's oldest football governing body, The FA has thecapacity and the expertise to share its skills with the world.

The section aims are to ensure:

  • that England's voice is recognised as key to the decision making processes in European football by 2002, and worldwide football by 2004;
  • that England's voice is heard around the world in key public and semi-public debates about the future of the game;
  • that The FA, and English football, is recognised and respected for its contribution to the development of the game abroad