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Curtworth Masango
Sports Reporter
A US$27 000 debt, which Dynamos owed to their former striker Evans Gwekwerere, almost crippled the Glamour Boys’ return to the CAF inter-club trenches where they will play in the Confederation Cup this season.
Dynamos needed to settle their case with Gwekwerere before they could be issued with the greenlight to play in the second-tier competition.
Gwekwerere claimed his former employers owed him US$27 000 after different stints at the club.
With the help of the Football Union of Zimbabwe (FUZ), he approached CAF, who were ready to block the Glamour Boys from taking part in the Confederation Cup.
Before the granting of a license, the following elements are considered at each club – sporting infrastructure, personnel and administrative, legal and financials.
Clubs have to prove they have no disputes, related to the overdue payments, in order to comply with the CAF men´s club licensing regulations.
Zimpapers Sport understands members of the Dynamos executive had to urgently pool resources to resolve the issue at the last-minute.
They paid him US$17 000 and agreed the remainder will be paid in batches, within three months.
The parties agreed the club was going to pay the player US$20 000 in total, instead of US$27 000.
Part of the initial payment came from the proceeds from the gate takings when they hosted Highlanders.
A source at the club said:
“To be precise it is only one player, not three and it is Evans. He had a special case that went through the courts and he won his case a long way back.
“Since then, the club hasn’t come forward to pay him his dues and the current executive just inherited that debt. The issue was overlooked and the club failed to comply with a court order all these years.
“The player approached FUZ which we believe advised him to report the case to CAF ahead of our participation in the Confed Cup,” said the source.
Added the source:
“Nowadays, the rules don’t allow teams to participate in competitions when they have debts and owe players money and we believe Evans and FUZ took advantage of that and approached CAF.
“This situation meant the club was going to fail the criteria for club licensing and we weren’t going to participate in the African Safari.”
Dynamos are set to face Zambian side ZESCO in a two-leg preliminary first round between August 16 and 25.
Mathew Masinge
Online Reporter