Home | Sports | BOMBSHELL!

BOMBSHELL!

06/12/2020 00:03:00 BY CHRIS DLAMINI

Font size:

MBABANE – No CAF Club Licensing full compliance, no game!

That is the standing position for the elite clubs in the country under the Premier League of Eswatini (PLE) which has issued a 16-team league fixture for the MTN Premier League games set to resume next Saturday.

However, the fixture release may be nothing but a formality after all as it has transpired that some clubs cannot be registered for the season. Meanwhile, CAF denotes Confederation of African Football.

“At least 12 per cent of the 16 teams cannot register to play in the top league due to CAF Club Licensing compliance failure. Only 88 per cent of the teams are ready to register and start the season and the PLE is aware of the situation,” said an impeccable source within the Eswatini Football Association (EFA).

This, the source had an effect on the league start and number of clubs that will make the league as the licensing standards are a strict requirement this time around. Also, this will also affect the fixtures as it would mean the PLE revising it once they had the list of complying and non-complying clubs which are believed to be known already.

“The EFA sent us correspondence to the effect that only 88 per cent of our members were in full compliance with the expected CAF standards but we don’t know which of our 16 members make the 88 per cent and which make the 12 per cent.

“That is why we cannot then start giving out participation fee to clubs we don’t even know yet if they will certainly be in the MTN League,” PLE Chief Operations Officer (COO) Pat Vilakati responded when the matter was put to him.

He said they were also yet to be given the full list of the qualifying and non-qualifying members then all other issues concerning possible fixture and tournament rules’ changes will be addressed in due course. Meanwhile, the numbers indicate that only 14 teams could be in full compliance while two do not make the cut.

confidence

At least three team officials who were called expressed confidence that they were not in the negative list even though they would not want to be seen commenting on the matter. They also expressed concern if the scheduled league kick-off would go ahead as expected next week. Complying clubs are expected to test for COVID-19 next Wednesday and Thursday should the games go ahead.

It is worth mentioning that this publication has the names of the non-compliant teams but could not get official confirmation as EFA Marketing and Communications Officer Muzi Radebe said this was a matter of confidentiality which he could not discuss with the media unless the PLE or clubs released the information.

Clubs have already been served with a fixture spanning from Week One to Week Four as of next week and they have expressed their readiness while some have made it clear they want a participation fee as of yesterday. However, that remains impossible until the PLE knows its membership has complied 100 per cent or resume the league with 14 teams to make the official season.

The EFA has also made it succinctly clear that teams that will get financial relief from it will be those that managed to comply fully and register to play in the top flight league.

Those had been officially confirmed to comply are Young Buffaloes and Royal Leopard but it is anticipated Green Mamba and the big three of Mbabane Highlanders, Mbabane Swallows and Manzini Wanderers also made it along with Denver Sundowns, Moneni Pirates and Tambankulu Callies among others.