KAIZER Chiefs will decide only next week whether they will participate in next
year’s African Champions League, in a lukewarm reaction to confirmation that
South Africa now has two places in the prestigious club competition.
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"At the moment we are still discussing it and we will wait until the coach
gets back from the training camp in Port Elizabeth next week before we make
any decision," the club’s football manager, Bobby Motaung, said on Tuesday.
"We have to figure out what is the best option for the club, both in terms of
finance and our players’ welfare."
Motaung said Chiefs had found competing in this year’s Champions League,
where they were knocked out in the third round, as well as going onto one more
round in the African Confederation Cup in Côte d’Ivoire, to be financially
draining.
He said it was also important to manage the club’s relatively small squad as
efficiently as possible.
"We have the Cosafa tournament and possibly the Nations Cup coming up during
this season, which will see Chiefs players competing.
"Then we have the important second half of the season, which is at the same
time as the opening rounds of the Champions League, and the big questions is
— do we have the depth in our squad to have our players competing on too
many fronts?
"These are all the things we are looking at before we decide whether we will
enter," he said.
Chiefs’ uncertain attitude contrasts with the gung-ho approach of champions
Mamelodi Sundowns.
Their coach, Pitso Mosimane, is desperate for continental success next year
and has been strengthening his squad to perform at both continental and
domestic level.
South Africa have won an extra place in both the Champions League and the
Confederation Cup after picking up points on the Confederation of African
Football rankings index following Orlando Pirates’ thrilling run to last
year’s Champions League final against Al Ahli of Egypt.
This was confirmed by the Premier Soccer League last week, with Chiefs now
able to join Sundowns in the 2015 Champions League field and Bidvest Wits
qualifying along with cup winners Orlando Pirates for a spot in the
Confederation Cup.
It would be the first time such a powerful field of clubs was fielded by South
Africa in a single year of African club competition.
Chiefs had high hopes this year of emulating their great rivals Pirates but
were bundled out by AS Vita Club of the Democratic Republic of Congo before
the group phase. The African run had an effect on their championship hopes,
which faded towards the end of the season, and on their campaign to retain
their Nedbank Cup title, which slipped away on penalties to Wits in the
semifinals.
In 2004, CAF introduced an extra place in both of their annual competitions
for the top 12 countries in Africa — based on performances over the previous
five years of completion with points given for reaching the various stages.
South Africa was among the initial 12 and had two teams in the Champions
League field from 2004 (Pirates and SuperSport United were the first double
act) until 2010, except for 2007, when Pirates did not enter.
But in 2011, after a series of poor results, South Africa dropped alarmingly
down the rankings and the country was stripped of its extra berth.
Source : bdlive.co.za
Tags : psl, chiefs, Africa, cup, competitions
