Chronicle Editor
Mehluli Sibanda, Senior Sports Reporter
THE FC Platinum leadership is exploring available options after the Confederation of African Football refused to grant an exemption to their head coach Pieter de Jongh to take of the team in the Champions League because he is not a holder of a Caf A coaching licence.
In a statement, FC Platinum president, Fabian Mashingaidze said the club’s board and executive management convened a meeting to ponder the decision by Caf not to grant a special dispensation to De Jongh to sit on the team’s bench during the Champions League as he does not have a Caf A licence.
“While we are concerned about the potential effects of this move, in the short term we are confident that our club has options to ensure that that the upcoming matches in the preliminary round against Costa de Sol of Mozambique will go on with minimal disruption,’’ said Mashingaidze.
FC Platinum are looking at available alternatives to ensure the team does well both on the domestic front and continental level.
“To ensure our long term competitiveness, we are assessing a number of options, to enable the team’s capacity to perform at domestic and Caf competitions.”
According to Mashingaidze, despite the Caf setback, the players are in high spirits as they gear up to face Costa de Sol of Mozambique in a preliminary fixture, whose first leg is taking place at the end of November.
“We are happy to report that morale is high in camp and the players are well aware of the need to produce a good result in Mozambique ahead of the return fixture to ensure progression to the next round,’’ Mashingaidze said.
Meanwhile, FC Platinum on Wednesday took on hosted Ngezi Platinum Stars in a friendly match played at Mandava Stadium, an encounter ended in a 1-1 draw. Ralph Kawondera scored for FC Platinum while Anelka Chivandire was on target for Ngezi Platinum Stars.-@Mdawini_29
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