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BUFFS IN CAF PARTICIPATION DILEMMA

20/10/2020 23:45:00 BY NTOKOZO MAGONGO

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MBABANE – It’s mission impossible for Young Buffaloes to compete in the CAF Champions League after they were crowned the MTN Premier League champions.

The army side has not started their pre-season training while they will be without 10 of their players who are with the national team Sihlangu, until at least November 17. The tentative dates to resume the inter-clubs competitions being the champions League and the CAF Confederations Cup is the weekend of November 27-29, 2020.

Failure for Buffaloes to honour the CAF Champions will hand a chance to Mbabane Swallows. There is no holder for the CAF Confederations Cup ticket after the EswatiniBank Cup was cancelled in the quarter-finals stage due to the COVID-19 pandemic. “It is likely that there is no representative in both tournaments after COVID-19. There are a lot of challenges that are faced by the team after the COVID-19 pandemic and it includes preparations and adhering to the COVID-19 safety regulations,” said the source.

Training

While the Eswatini Football Association (EFA) announced that organised football being the Premier League of Eswatini (PLE) and the national squads can resume training on Monday, it was a non-starter after teams could not cope with the regulations laid down to resume training.

Buffaloes Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Sandile Vilakati said they had not reached a final decision over the matter but it was becoming impractical each passing day. “As a club we are yet to meet before end of this week and I believe a final decision will be made concerning our participation in the CAF Champions League,” he said.

Buffaloes competed in the CAF Confederations Cup last season and they were booted out by South Africa’s Bidvest Wits in the first round while Green Mamba played in the CAF Champions League.

“There are challenges we are facing ahead of the decision. Until now, we had not started training while the players had stayed away for a long time. We would also be without our players who are with Sihlangu and they can only join us after the second leg match, which is on November 18, he said.

Sihlangu is currently in camp preparing for their first and second leg matches against Congo to be played November 12 away and four days later at Mavuso Sports Centre.