Safa demands Covid answers from Caf
The South African Football Association (Safa) has written to the continent’s football controlling body, the Confederation of African Football (Caf), demanding a full explanation on why SA clubs have faced stringent Covid-19 travel restrictions from the northern parts of the continent in recent weeks.
In addition, Safa made it clear to Caf, after a meeting on Friday with three SA clubs participating in Caf club competitions, that no SA national team or professional club will be forced to host matches outside of SA for feeble Covid-19 related reasons.
Safa said Caf should instead “provide us with any research conducted regarding our Covid-19 situation in SA that would warrant alternatives at this stage as all countries have Covid-19 cases with Morocco being second on the continent behind SA”.
Safa did this after two SA clubs, Kaizer Chiefs and Mamelodi Sundowns, were prevented from honouring their away Caf Champions League fixtures in Morocco (last Saturday) and Algeria (February 24) respectively.
“We hope to hear from Caf soon with regards to our letter,” Safa CEO Tebogo Motlanthe told the Sunday Times yesterday.
Sundowns were seconds from travelling to Algeria this week to play their second Group B match against CR Belouizdad when they received a message from Caf notifying them of Algeria refusing them entry to their country on the grounds of the Covid-19 situation in SA.
Chiefs suffered the same fate last week when Morocco denied them visas to play Wydad Athletic in what should have been their opening encounter of Group C.
Caf seemed to bow to Safa pressure when they issued a letter to both Athletic and Belouizdad yesterday giving them until midnight today to decide where and when their matches against Chiefs and Sundowns will be played.
The two teams will lose their 2-0 should they fail to host these matches.
Sundowns GM, Yogesh Singh, was adamant that should Caf apply their rules, the 2016 champions should be given three points because they had done all that was necessary to travel to Algeria before they were forced to cancel their trip on Thursday.
Chiefs communications manager Vina Maphosa said while waiting on Caf to give them clarity on the Wydad clash, they saw no reason why their second Group C match against Horoya AC of Guinea should not go ahead at the FNB Stadium on Tuesday.
Motlanthe said Safa had already put plans in place for Bafana Bafana to host Ghana in the Africa Cup of Nations qualifier next month. Bafana will also travel to Sudan next month to finish off their Afcon qualification.