Times Of Swaziland: EFA TARGETING JULY FOR FOOTBALL RETURN EFA TARGETING JULY FOR FOOTBALL RETURN ================================================================================ BY SABELO NDZINISA AND PHOLSILE HLOPHE on 29/05/2020 13:13:00 MBABANE – Local football games are expected to resume on the last week of July. This is if the projections announced by Eswatini Football Association (EFA) Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Frederick Mngomezulu are anything to go by. In a press conference yesterday at Sigwaca House, Mngomezulu said they had a meeting last week where strategies for the resumption of the local games were discussed. Mngomezulu said regional leagues would kick-start on a later date while the EFA deliberates on safety and security measures to be put in place to ensure that players, officials and spectators are protected from the virus since most of their games are normally played in open fields. “While, as it had been originally directed that all football competitions still remain suspended and will resume from the point where they were, until their conclusion, a direction which still subsists at this point, there has been a need to establish a strategy to recreate the practical experience of the football spirit. The executive members held a meeting last week and we concluded on strategies that will be implemented when games resume and all these measures were aimed at ensuring safety and security for players, officials and the nation,” said Mngomezulu. The decision to finish the remainder of the current season was concluded following a strategic meeting between the EFA executive members who deliberated on the strategies to be implemented amid the COVID-19 pandemic. strategy “The strategy is still to be delivered and discussed with government, next week, with the view to commence the preparations to operationalise it. We, therefore, are going to give highlights of the strategy and details are still a subject for discussions with government. The football association has developed a four-phased strategy which will begin on June 15, 2020 and will last for six weeks before games begin,” said Mngomezulu. Mngomezulu further explained that the EFA was still awaiting a response from government on how they would deal with the issue of spectators when games resume. He said a number of factors needed to be considered including the number of fans to be allowed into a stadium, the sitting arrangement, the size of the stadium and safety measures that should be respected by everyone who enters the stadium. “We will discuss the issue of spectators during the games whether they will be allowed entry or not during our ongoing discussions with government. We will provide a full update on that before the end of next week,” he said.