WARRIORS defender Costa Nhamoinesu will be playing Uefa Champions League football next season with his Czech Republic side Sparta Praha who were confirmed domestic league champions on Sunday after their closest rivals Viktoria Plzeň could only manage a 2-2 draw with FK Jablonec.
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Sparta have a nine-point lead with three games left, but are guaranteed the championship, their 36th, as they have a better head-to-head record against Viktoria Plzen this season.
The Prague side, famed for producing such stars as Chelsea’s Petr Čech, Arsenal’s Tomáš Rosický and Juventus legend Pavel Nedved, had squandered the opportunity to wrap up the title on Saturday when they lost 3-1 to Teplice, which was their first defeat since the start of the campaign.
By winning the title, Nhamoinesu becomes the second Zimbabwean to play in Europe’s elite club football competition after Bruce Grobbelaar who won it with English giants Liverpool in 1984 when it was then called the European Cup.
Sparta will begin their Uefa Champions League campaign at the second qualifying round stage.
The 28-year-old Nhamoinesu had started and finished the 24 games before he picked a shoulder injury which has seen him missing the team’s last five matches.
Interestingly, the first match Sparta Praha played without Nhamoinesu due to the injury ended in a loss, which was their first in 25 matches. The club, formerly known as Sparta Prague, lost 3-1 to Jablonec in the first leg of the Czech Cup semi-final.
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However, they went on to overturn the deficit by winning the reverse fixture 4-0 and thus they are in line for a memorable double if they can beat Plzeň in the final on Saturday next week.
Nhamoinesu is expected to return to action on Sunday when the team host Sigma Olomouc in a league match.
The former Masvingo United and AmaZulu defender is expected to form the core of the Warriors squad for the 2015 Morocco Africa Cup of Nations qualifying campaign.
But with the Czech Cup final falling on the same weekend Zimbabwe will be in Malawi for their first Afcon qualifier, it’s most unlikely that Nhamoinesu would feature for the Warriors in that match as Fifa have declared that clubs are not compelled to release players that weekend as the date does not fall on their calendar for international matches.
Another player almost assured of European football next season is Warriors midfielder Quincy Antipas whose Danish club Brondby are currently occupying a Europa League spot.
They are on fourth position with three games remaining and in the event that they win all their remaining matches and the two teams above them lose theirs, Antipas will also be playing in the Uefa Champions League next season. The former Motor Action midfielder has made 22 appearances for his club this season, in which 12 were starts and has one goal to his name.
It’s not looking good for Mike Temwanjira who is likely to miss on European football next season, with his Romanian club Vaslui in fifth position, two rungs behind the Europa League spot. Vaslui are nine points behind the team that occupies the coveted position with just four games remaining.
The 35-year-old striker has made 28 starts in the 30 games that his team has played this term, scoring five goals.
In the African version of the two European club cup competitions, Madinda Ndlovu became the first Zimbabwean to confirm his participation in the continent’s elite club competition next season, the Caf Champions League after winning the Botswana B-Mobile title with Township Rollers a fortnight ago.
He is likely to be soon joined by the Mamelodi Sundowns crew of Khama Billiat, Cuthbert Malajila, Esrom Nyandoro and team manager Peter Ndlovu whose club is set to wrap up the South African league title tonight if they can beat SuperSport United and results elsewhere goes in their favour.
The Brazilians are four points clear of second placed Kaizer Chiefs with two games remaining before the season ends.
Other Zimbabweans in the Absa Premiership who could find themselves playing continental football next season are the Bidvest Wits University crew of Onismor Bhasera, Denver Mukamba, Tinashe Nengomasha, Thomas Sweswe and Benjani Mwaruwari — although the bulk of them would have been shipped out by the time the season starts.
Wits are in the final of the Nedbank Cup after beating Kaizer Chiefs last weekend and will play Orlando Pirates, with the winner to play in the Caf Confederation Cup.
