Cape Town City first PSL club to return to training

Cape Town City became the first Premier Soccer League (PSL) club to return to controlled training yesterday after the Mother City side met the coronavirus health and safety requirements.

The 2019/2020 Absa Premiership season has been suspended since mid-March due to the outbreak of Covid19 and last week sports minister Nathi Mthethwa gave permission for non-contact and contact sport to resume training.

“The club has received clearance to commence full training in accordance with return to training directive.

“Congrats to management who have worked around the clock to ensure we are one of the first PSL clubs to be fully Covid compliant‚” the club said yesterday.

City confirmed that all their players and technical staff had tested negative for Covid-19 after the first round of testing last week and they would conduct the second round of tests next week.

Earlier this week, SA Football Association chief doctor Dr Thulani Ngwenya explained the plan for the second stage of return to training in a biologically safe environment (BSE) after meeting with the PSL.

Ngwenya said the plan‚ which Fifa had called “one of the best it has received”‚ was so watertight that there was only a “1% chance” of anyone being infected with Covid-19 within the BSE if it was adhered to.

The PSL and GladAfrica Championship clubs have been conducting the first round of testing for their players and essential staff.

However‚ some of the GladAfrica Championship teams have warned that the high costs of conducting the tests could prevent them from going ahead with the second round of testing.

Since testing commenced, there have been seven confirmed positive coronavirus cases in the PSL.

Orlando Pirates midfielder Ben Motshwari was the first player to test positive but he has since recovered.

Given Mashikinya of Bloemfontein Celtic‚ two unnamed players from Kaizer Chiefs and three unidentified Stellenbosch FC staff members also tested positive for Covid19. —