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By Ray Munyoro
FC Platinum believe the decision by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) to turn down their request to have coach Pieter De Jongh sit on the bench will have minimal disruption ahead of next week’s clash against Costa Do Sol.
The Zimbabwe champions open their 2020-21 CAF Champions League campaign with a date with Do Sol of Mozambique in a home and away format on November 27.
This, however, has been met with a blow after CAF turned down their request to have De Jong, a holder of UEFA A licence, exempted and sit on the team’s bench.
According to CAF, a coach should possess a CAF A license to sit on the bench for interclub competitions.
And in a statement, FC Platinum president Fabian Mashingaidze said while they are concerned, they are working on having next week’s fixture go on with minimal disruptions.
“While we are concerned about the potential effects of the move, in the short term we are confident that our club has options to ensure that the upcoming matches in the preliminary round against Costa dol Sol, of Mozambique will go on with minimal disruptions,” said Mashingaidze.
Mashingaidze said they are now working on the long term effects of the decision.
“The FC Platinum board and executive management have met over the decision by CAF not to give a special dispensation to coach, Hendrikus Pieter De Jongh, to sit on the team’s bench during Champions League matches as he does not have CAF A licence.
“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.
“We are happy to report that morale in the camp is high 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,” said Mashingaidze.
Pure Platinum Play have been preparing for the matches with coach De Jongh. Nhau/Indaba
