adminThe development should be good news to the multitudes of the Zvishavane football lovers who were on the verge of losing out on watching continental action at Mandava Stadium.
At the weekend Caf notified Zifa on the ban of Mandava Stadium for their Champions League games following a damning report by a commissioner of the FC Platinum’s return leg match against Green Mamba of Swaziland last week.
The match commissioner said that Mandava Stadium, which met the Caf standards, should not be used for future continental matches as according to the commissioner there is no suitable accommodation in Zvishavane with visiting teams staying in Masvingo which is 90km away. Another problem highlighted was that the venue and Masvingo were not accessible as they were more than 200km from the capital which by Caf regulations ought to see teams being flown.
Zifa chief executive officer Jonathan Mashingaidze said they were yet to get a response from Caf on the proposal to fly the visiting teams but was happy that the Sudanese Football Association had agreed to the deal.
“I believe we are in the positive direction with regards to the Mandava Stadium issue though we are yet to get a feedback from Caf. The good thing is that the Sudanese FA wrote to us just now saying they are comfortable with their representatives flying on a charter plane to Zvishavane. What will happen is that they will fly to Masvingo and then
on match day if the aerodrome in Zvishavane is functional, they are flown to Mandava.
“The other alternative is for El Merreikh and match officials to drive to Zvishavane from Masvingo as that is only less than 45 minutes’ drive,” said Mashingaidze.
FC Platinum will charter the plane for the visiting team and match officials.
Flying the visitors is in accordance with article 5.4 of the Caf regulations which reads, “If the distance between the capital and venue of the match is superior to 200km, the host association shall provide the visitors with an airplane transport to the venue of the match and back.”
Mashingaidze in his letter to Caf said playing at Mandava was meant to spread the game to other parts of the country.
The Zvishavane club advanced to the second round after their emphatic 8-2 aggregate victory against Green Mamba.
It would not be the first time for a Zimbabwean club participating in the continental competition to be forced to shift venue as Highlanders once played their Caf Champions
League home game in Harare in 2008.
In a telephone interview from Zvishavane yesterday, FC Platinum’s secretary-general Philimon Muvengwa was adamant that they would play El Merreikh at Mandava Stadium on 24 March.
He could not be drawn into commenting on how much they have budgeted to charter the plane.
“The issue is being handled by Zifa and our position is that we are going to play our game against El Merreikh at Mandava Stadium,” Muvengwa said.
Pressed to comment on what his club would do in the event that Caf maintains that the game be played elsewhere, Muvengwa said, “We are not expecting that at all.”
Online Reporter