Mamelodi Sundowns’ assistant coach Manqoba Mngqithi isn’t overly celebrating the decision by the Confederation of African Football (Caf) to switch the dates of interclub competitions from February-November to August-May.
Caf ’s executive committee announced a number of changes this week after a two-day symposium in Morocco. The 2019 Africa Cup of Nations will see participants increase from 16 to 24. The tournament will be played in June-July instead of January-February.
After making some changes in the club scene for this year’s competitions, increasing the prize money and number of teams in the group stage, Caf then changed the timing of the tournaments. This move ends the calls for the Premier Soccer League (PSL) to adopt the African calendar to give local clubs an edge on the continent.
‘These changes could create a mess’
But Mngqithi, from a team that called on the PSL to change its calendar, predicts this change could lead to a “mess ” in the domestic league if the PSL doesn’t do more to accommodate the four clubs that will be playing in the continent next year.
The African champions, Sundowns, and South African champions, Bidvest Wits, will represent the country in the Caf Champions League while SuperSport United and Cape Town City will contest the Caf Confederation Cup.
“The decision to change the dates is a good move by Caf but I foresee problems in the country,” Mngqithi said. “If we had fixture congestion problems when our league wasn ’t running parallel with Caf’s calendar, imagine what will happen after the switch, especially with cup competitions, the league and now Caf running at the same time.
“Travelling the continent isn’t like Europe where you can take a bus or a train to another country. There are times we have to start in Europe before connecting to another African country. Imagine what that will do to our fixture congestion?”
He continued: “In as much as this is a good decision by Caf, I foresee a mess if we don ’t change how we do things in the country. It shouldn’t end with Caf changing their calendar but it should also include the PSL doing more to support teams playing in the continent.
“Maybe we need to have our league start in July rather than August to give clubs who will be playing in the continent an opportunity to play some games before they start playing in the continent so that they aren’t left behind.
“We need to change our thinking on the cups, have them played in midweek and play the league on weekends so as to be flexible and slot in teams that are playing catch-up.”
Altering the calendar is not enough Mngqithi ’s concerns are fuelled by the struggles the Brazillians endured in their march to lift the Champions League last year.
Their appeals to the PSL to move some of their matches to getmore time to prepare for continental competitions fell on deaf ears. This year,Wits played in East London on a Tuesday and then travelled to Egypt to face Al-Ahly in Cairo on Saturday. Other leagues on the continent bend over backwards to accommodate clubs representing their nation.
“The PSL executive committee will sit on Thursday to discuss the changes by Caf [and the impact they will have on us] before we comment on the matter,” acting PSL chief executive Mato Madlala said.
PSL chairman Irvin Khoza attended the two-day symposium in Rabat. The advantage of these changes in the club scene is that teams will not lose a lot of registered players who move after the end of the season, right before the group stages start. This will also give teams like Sundowns, who have been playing nonstop since 2015, an opportunity to rest.
“Changing the Caf calendar alone will not help us,” Mngqithi said. “If you look at the teams remaining in the knockout stage, they come from leagues that run from August - May. Those teams, especially in the Arab countries, have been able to succeed because their leagues meet them halfway.”..