Clubs want clarity over Caf competitions

SOUTH African club officials are angry at a lack of clarity over next year’s continental club competitions as promised changes have not been implemented.

The teams are upset because they are in the dark about how next year’s African Champions League and African Confederation Cup will unfold.

To make matters worse‚ the four Premier Soccer League clubs who are supposed to be competing next year do not know the dates for their fixtures‚ which usually start in February.

And despite appeals to the Confederations of African Football (Caf), the clubs still have to register their player by the end of December‚ before the opening of the January transfer window.

Clubs also do not know when the draw for next year’s competitions will be made‚ but one senior official‚ who asked not to be named for fear of upsetting the Confederation of African Football‚ said “that’s the least of our concerns”.

“We were promised significant changes for the better but as things stand now, we are in the dark‚” the official said.

“It is extremely frustrating and, frankly, unprofessional.

“How are clubs supposed to plan for the second half of the season‚ to buy players in the transfer window and to try and balance the commitments in the domestic competitions and the travel in Africa?

“How difficult can it be to draw up a calendar of when the Caf fixtures are going to be played‚ so that clubs and domestic leagues can plan their domestic fixtures?

There were similar complaints aired on television last week by SuperSport United general manager Stanley Mathews when he spoke just before last Sunday’s first leg of the African Confederation Cup final in Lubumbashi.

Massive changes were proposed to the two annual club competitions at the Caf symposium in Morocco in mid-year, where it was decided that the competition dates would be changed.

Instead of being held inside a calendar year‚ starting in February and finishing in November‚ Caf agreed with proposals to change to an August start and May finish.

This was driven by demands from top clubs across north African and in South Africa’s Premier Soccer League‚ who are forced to give up their off-season rest and preseason preparations to participate in the group phase of the two competitions, which is played in June and July.

Clubs also wanted changes to registration windows from Caf to conform with the established international transfer window in January and mid-year.