SAFA were expected to play in the newly formed Confederation of African Football's 1957 Africa Cup of Nations, however they did not. The minutes of the meetings between SAFA and their counterparts from Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan were lost to fire and so the official reason for their non-appearance is unknown. Fred Fell, SAFA's representative at FIFA said that SAFA withdrew because of the conflict at the Suez Canal. There were also rumours that they were expelled from the initial competition due to their favourable stance on apartheid.