After Dr Irvin Khoza and the Premier Soccer League held a news conference on the return-to-play protocol on Monday, the South Aftican Football Association (Safa) announced its stance in a statement on Tuesday afternoon.

Khoza told the media on Monday that the potential restart of the season was in the hands of Safa as he seemingly went on the offensive in trying to force through the governing body’s approval.

Despite the 18 July restart date proposed by the league looking unlikely, a return in the not too distant future looks possible after the bodies seemingly have come to a compromise.

Safa remains adamant that referees need another two weeks to undergo Covid-19 testing and be fully fit to officiate all outstanding games in the Absa Premiership and the GladAfrica Championship.

In a statement on its website Safa said:

‘According to the Referees Sub-Committee of the Technical Committee, the first week of August 2020 is the appropriate date for the commencement of NSL matches.

‘The choice of Gauteng Province as the host of training and match venues, as well as hotels, was agreed to by the government and NSL and that SAFA had no input to this process.

‘The 110 match officials will be subjected to medical and mandatory fitness tests. The medical examination specifically entails testing for Covid-19 and those who test negative would be required to undergo a mandatory 14-day fitness test under the guidance of the FIFA approved fitness trainer. A FIFA fitness consultant participated in the discussion.

‘The fitness trainer initially wanted a three-week fitness period but both parties mutually agreed on an accelerated period of training of two weeks in order to meet the beginning of August commencement date.

‘In the meantime, once the Compliance Officers have completed their report, it will be submitted to the government to gazette on the return to play date.

‘The world football government body, FIFA, has accepted that it is the government’s responsibility to approve the return to play date and we will update FIFA on the progress achieved.’

The PSL board of governors also met on Tuesday to discuss their own way forward, but will be hopeful following Safa’s announcement.