Hwange are adamant they will be playing the first round first leg match of the Orange Caf Confederation Cup against Sudan’s Al Mal Atbara at the Colliery on Sunday.
Club secretary Burzil Dube yesterday said they will definitely be flying El Amal Atbara to Victoria Falls from Harare tomorrow and they were still pursuing the logistics of that objective.
“What we are saying is there is no way we can move from the Colliery. Hwange is in Zimbabwe and that is where we are going to play them on Sunday. We are going to fly them to Victoria Falls. We are still looking at all avenues but we are definitely going to fly them. We do not have any other option. They will be booked either in Victoria Falls or Hwange. We have hotels in both those towns,” Dube said.
On Monday, Dube said the Sudanese were trying to frustrate them but assured the Chipangano fans that the match would be played in Hwange.
El Merreikh, another Sudanese team facing FC Platinum in the first round first leg of the Caf Champions League, have through the Sudan Football Association, also made unreasonable demands which have been viewed as an attempt by the East Africans to frustrate the local clubs in their own backyards.
Earlier in the month on March 6, El Amal were advised by Zifa through their association to travel to South Africa via Johannesburg and connect to Victoria Falls as there are no flights from the capital to the resort town.
The correspondence was made by Zifa chief executive officer Jonathan Mashingaidze to Sudan Football Association.
However, Sudan Football Association on Monday wrote to Zifa advising them that El Amal were landing in Harare just after midday tomorrow aboard an Ethiopian Airways flight and said they would appreciate it if the team would be flown to Hwange upon arrival in the capital.
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Zanzibar’s Jamhuri went their way against Hwange’s advice to fly to Victoria Falls via Johannesburg and landed in Harare and they had to endure more than 800km by road to Victoria Falls before playing their preliminary round second leg-match against Hwange at the Colliery on March 4.
Caf tournament regulations state that if a distance exceeds 200km from where the visiting team arrives, the hosts should fly the guests to the vicinity of the match venue.
Victoria Falls is 100km away from Hwange and it would have made sense for the Sudanese club to fly to the resort town via Johannesburg.
