Sports / Soccer
Zifa accuse Caf of 'double standards' and bias
22 Mar 2012 at 14:35hrs | Views
Zimbabwe's FA (Zifa) is accusing the Confederation of African Football (Caf) of 'double standards' over its decision to bar FC Platinum from using its home ground in the African Champions League.
FC Platinum will now play Sudanese club El Merreikh in Harare instead of the mining town of Zvishavane on Saturday.
Caf says the nearest suitable hotels are too far away from the match venue.
Zifa had offered to fly El Merreikh from Harare to an airstrip in Zvishavane, but Al Merreikh refused to accept the arrangement as they wanted to use commercial flights rather than chartered ones.
Zifa is accusing Caf of bias, alleging that rules are often flouted when its clubs and national teams play away.
Caf communications director Suleiman Habuba has denied that the African football body is unfair in its treatment of member countries, but Zifa is set to complain in any case.
"We will make a proper complaint to Caf - it is double standards," Zifa chief executive Jonathan Mashingaidze told BBC Sport.
"Last month Zimbabwe played away to Burundi and there was no water nor electricity in the hotel, but Caf didn't order Burundi to play the match somewhere else.
"It's the same with our clubs in Caf competitions. They have often been made to travel more than 200 kilometres by road, against Caf regulations, and we were only asking Al Merreikh to travel 95 kilometres."
Caf's Habuba has rejected any allegations of bias.
Caf rules state that if a visiting team is required to travel more than 200km from a capital city to the match venue then the journey must be made by air, but the regulations do not specify how close the team's hotel should be to the match venue.
FC Platinum will now play Sudanese club El Merreikh in Harare instead of the mining town of Zvishavane on Saturday.
Caf says the nearest suitable hotels are too far away from the match venue.
Zifa had offered to fly El Merreikh from Harare to an airstrip in Zvishavane, but Al Merreikh refused to accept the arrangement as they wanted to use commercial flights rather than chartered ones.
Zifa is accusing Caf of bias, alleging that rules are often flouted when its clubs and national teams play away.
"We will make a proper complaint to Caf - it is double standards," Zifa chief executive Jonathan Mashingaidze told BBC Sport.
"Last month Zimbabwe played away to Burundi and there was no water nor electricity in the hotel, but Caf didn't order Burundi to play the match somewhere else.
"It's the same with our clubs in Caf competitions. They have often been made to travel more than 200 kilometres by road, against Caf regulations, and we were only asking Al Merreikh to travel 95 kilometres."
Caf's Habuba has rejected any allegations of bias.
Caf rules state that if a visiting team is required to travel more than 200km from a capital city to the match venue then the journey must be made by air, but the regulations do not specify how close the team's hotel should be to the match venue.
Source - BBC
