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ZIMBABWE football giants, Dynamos have one leg in the group stages of the CAF Confederation Cup after a hard fought 1-0 win over Orapa United of Botswana in the first leg of the second preliminary round in Francistown on Sunday.
The teams will face off in the second leg this coming weekend and Dynamos will need to avoid defeat and make it to the group stage where they will make a bit of money to boost their very dry coffers.
In a welcome departure from the old set-up, new CAF president Patrice Motsepe has been on a mission to improve club competitions and provide more financial assistance to participants. And one such move is to give clubs in the preliminary rounds of both the CAF Champions League and CAF Confederation Cup US$50 000 each.
Previously, participating clubs needed to reach the Group Stages to be eligible to share the overall prize money. Dynamos will have to look beyond the US$50 000 already secured and position themselves for the grand prize of US$2 million, up from the US$1,2 million given to the winners in 2022.
By avoiding defeat in the second leg this coming weekend, Dynamos will have guaranteed themselves a decent US$400 000, which goes to the team that will finish bottom of their group while there is US$550 000 for a team that makes it to the quarter-finals and US$750 000 for reaching the semi-finals.
The financial rewards are huge and Dynamos will be transformed significantly if they progress beyond the second preliminary round.
It has been a chaotic year for them and they risk losing a lot of players for nothing after failing to seal long-term deals for most of them due to financial challenges.
A cash injection of almost half a million US dollars is the best thing that Dynamos can dream of at the moment after losing a number of partnerships from the previous seasons.
Apart from boosting the club’s dry coffers, a good run in the CAF Confederation Cup will result in substantial earnings for the players themselves as the further the team progresses, the more money will go into their pockets.
The further the team progresses in the tournament, the more chances some of their players will attract foreign interests and possibly secure the foreign moves they all dream of.
But for that to happen, there has to be a change in habits at the top of the leadership. On many occasions, Dynamos have been their own worst enemy through unnecessary squabbling each time they are faced with opportunities to achieve greatness.
There is a week before the crucial second leg that will transform Dynamos’ bank account this season and it is too long a period if there are no cool heads in both the leadership and team camp.
The ball is in Dynamos’ court and they should be aware of the difference between US$50 000 and US$400 000 before they press the self-destruct button.
Online Reporter