Wits risk incurring full wrath of Safa if club refuses to release star striker Mahlambi

The South African Football Association will “take action” should Bidvest Wits attempt to withhold striker Phakamani Mahlambi from the Under-20 Africa Cup of Nations‚ said Safa CEO Dennis Mumble.

Mumble said Mahlambi has been included on coach Thabo Senong’s final South Africa Under-20 squad for the tournament in Zambia from February 26 to March 12‚ and Safa expect Wits to release the player.

Absa Premiership title-chasing Wits had indicated that they would not release Mahlambi.

“We have included him on the list and we expect the club is going to release that player‚” Mumble said on Tuesday.

“And we have already notified that club that we are going to take action against the club should they not release the player.

“The bottom line is that the national team takes priority over club commitments. And we are not going to budge on that.”

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Mumble said Safa would take action against Wits‚ regardless of the U-20 Afcon not falling on Fifa international dates.

“This is the thing that a lot of clubs tend to fall back on‚ this Fifa calendar‚” Safa’s CEO said.

“South Africa‚ Safa‚ is the one that proposed this international football calendar to Fifa‚ in 1998 or 1999. So we know what the purpose of that calendar is.

“It is for Fifa to protect its senior World Cup‚ and therefore it only sets aside seven days a year.

“But we have nine national teams‚ and Fifa‚ Caf or Cosafa don’t schedule matches on those Fifa dates for junior teams‚ and their junior competitions also don’t fall on those dates.

“So this thing of falling back on Fifa dates – Fifa has left it up to the individual federations to regulate their own releases for junior national teams. And‚ as Safa‚ we have worked very well with the league.

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“I must tell you now there’s no other club in the league that has resisted. And so whichever club is responsible for holding back players‚ we are going to act on it‚ and believe me we are acting on it now as we speak.”

Mahlambi (19) is one of the few players in Senong’s squad earning regular game time at his club.

Wits’s forward prodigy has scored three goals in four league games since a return from an injury in late December that kept Mahlambi out of most of the first half of the season.

- TMG Digital