Times Of Swaziland: CAF CLUB LICENSING DEADLINE TODAY

CAF CLUB LICENSING DEADLINE TODAY
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Themba Zwane on 20/10/2020 15:58:00


MBABANE – Premier league teams are racing against time as the deadline for
adherence to the CAF Club Licensing Programme is today.
The Eswatini Football Association (EFA) will have to compile a comprehensive
report to be submitted to the Confederation of African Football (CAF) by the end
of business today. EFA Marketing and Communications Officer Muzi Radebe
confirmed when drawn for comment that today was the deadline. “Yes it is true
that tomorrow (today) is the deadline as we have to submit the report to CAF,”
said Radebe.
Announced
This comes after the EFA Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Frederick Mngomezulu
announced in a press conference on October 7, 2020 that Young Buffaloes, who
were crowned champions of the 2019/20 MTN Premier League after it was cancelled
with eight games to play due to the spread of COVID-19, were not guaranteed a
CAF Champions League spot.
The CEO said they had recently given premier league teams deadlines to comply
with CAF Club Licensing and they had submitted documents that were being
scrutinised to determine if they complied. He said it must be clear that those
declared as champions, if they did not meet the CAF Club Licensing requirements;
they would not qualify to compete in the CAF Inter-Club competitions. The CEO
highlighted that the EFA will be submitting the names of those that qualified to
CAF by October 21, 2020. He said CAF had given them up until today to submit the
names of the teams that complied with CAF Club Licensing.
Submitted
The EFA CAF Club Licensing department had been examining the documents submitted
by teams. Meanwhile, independent investigation by this publication suggests that
even the country’s big three, being Mbabane Highlanders, Mbabane Swallows and
Manzini Wanderers do not meet the requirement for CAF Club Licensing following
the scrutiny by the EFA CAF Club Licensing department. Main requirements for
compliance include having juniors’ structures, a well set-up office, audited
financial statements, training sports ground and a home ground for hosting games
among others.