Kaizer Chiefs denied visas: Moroccans ask Caf to move match to another country or postpone it

The Royal Moroccan Football Association (RMFF) has asked the Confederation of African Football (Caf) to postpone Saturday's Champions League clash between Wydad Casablanca and Kaizer Chiefs or move it to another country.

Chiefs were supposed to travel to Morocco on Wednesday night to honour the group stage continental fixture but the North African country refused to issue visas to Amakhosi‚ citing safety and health fears as the reason after a spike in Covid-19 cases in SA.

“The Royal Moroccan Football Association has sent a letter to the Caf Clubs Committee informing it that the Moroccan authorities decided not to allow the Wydad Casablanca match with the SA team Kaizer Chiefs to be held on February 13 in Casablanca for the first round of the African Champions League due to safety and health related to the recent developments of Covid-19.

“As the Royal Moroccan Football Federation [we] called on the Confederation of African Football to postpone the match or hold it in another country if this is not possible‚” said RMFF in a statement.

Caf have not made any pronouncements on the postponement and it remains to be seen where and when the match will eventually take place.

Chiefs spokesperson Vina Maphosa confirmed to TimesLIVE that they received correspondence from Caf overnight that the match will not be taking place as originally scheduled this weekend.

“Yes‚ we received an e-mail from Caf indicating that the game will not be taking place‚ but the Moroccan Football Federation and the embassy have not come back to us‚” said Maphosa.

The cancellation of the trip is going to come at a huge financial cost to Chiefs.

The Naturena club must now cancel their flights‚ accommodation and other logistics-related expenditure as they await a decision from Caf.