Local sides, Mochudi Center Chiefs and Gaborone United are running the risk of missing out in the upcoming CAF Champions League and CAF Confederation Cup competitions due to failure of compliance to FIFA’s club licensing system.
The practice which was first introduced by FIFA in 2006 during the FIFA Congress, is expected to usher transparency and professionalism in the beautiful game worldwide. Since then, various confederations have swiftly enrolled to the system, but for CAF and many of its member associations that is yet to be the case, including the overseers of local football, the Botswana Football Association (BFA).
Despite the reasons still being sketchy as to why the local association remains lacking in the implementation of the system, for other member associations the term ‘expensive’ has been cited as the cause.
However, FIFA has since announced that by 2016, all of its six confederations should have complied with the requirements of the system and failure to adhere will result in clubs being denied the right to participate in continental and international competitions.
In an exclusive interview with Gazette Sport BFA’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Kitso Kemoeng revealed that although they had successfully managed to register both Chiefs and GU for next season’s competitions, the biggest hurdle remains is acquiring licenses for the two local giants.
“We (BFA) have been able to register both clubs for next year’s tournaments but now the biggest problem remains to comply with the CAF requirements, which we have been failing in the past years. Over the past few months we have been engaging with CAF, we are aware of what is required of us,” revealed Kemoeng.
Kemoeng also went on to insight that his association is faced with a similar state as they were given a warning last season when Township Rollers entered the competition on a temporary license.
“Although I was not around last year when it happened, what I understand is that Rollers were allowed to enter the competition but the BFA was warned that this season all participating clubs should be fully licensed and if not the clubs will not be allowed to enter next season,” he added.
“As I had said, I have been in talks with CAF, who have been understanding and they have given us until mid-January that we have the issue addressed. We as the BFA are also hosting a seminar on club licensing this week (Tuesday and Wednesday) to educate and inform our football administrators at club level on club licensing and its requirements and we believe it proves helpful,” the CEO continued.
The vast experienced sports administrator concluded as he vowed that as long as he is in office he will fight to see all footballing teams in the league fully licensed and avoid the shame of missing out on such high tournaments due to the club licensing reasons.