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South African Football Association (Safa) chief executive Raymond Hack is leaving just five months before the start of the World Cup as the power struggle at the heart of the country’s domestic game intensifies.

Hack, who has run Safa for more than five years, is thought to have paid the price for being a close ally of World Cup organising committee chairman Ivan Khoza.

Khoza went up against bitter rival Danny Jordaan, the chief executive of the World Cup organising committee, for the Safa presidency in September but both men unexpectedly withdrew their nominations and lesser-known third candidate Kirsten Nematandani was appointed president. The move was seen at the time as a victory for the Jordaan camp.

Nematandani announced the departure of Hack, saying that a replacement would be in place by the end of the week, but reports in the local media are already speculating that it will be an interim appointment with Jordaan being installed after the World Cup.

Khoza threatened a legal bid to overturn September’s election result but has postponed his challenge until after the World Cup, when the situation is set to come to a head.

Nematandani said: “When you have been associated with a person for a long time as we have with Hack, it becomes difficult to part ways – no matter what the reasons.

“But we did a lot of soul-searching and we believe we have made the right decision. Every organisation has a vision of its own and in terms of us going forward, we felt it was correct that we release Hack. He has run his race.”

Hack was planning to step down after the World Cup anyway but the decision to remove him now has surprised many.

Hack, who was also close to previous Safa president Molefi Oliphant, insisted: “I am not leaving under a cloud. I was not pushed and there is no animosity.”

However, he later told Reuters: “I had indicated I wasn’t going to continue in football after the 2010 World Cup but the new leadership of the association have set themselves a new four-year vision and I wasn’t part of that vision.”