The Botswana Football Association(BFA) will make adecision on Botswana’s representativefor next season’s CAFConfederation Cup. The association’sNational Executive Committee(NEC) is widely tipped to chooseMascom Top 8 winners GaboroneUnited instead of beMobile PremierLeague runners up, Nico United.Participation in the CAF ConfederationCup requires that only domesticcup winners from memberassociations ranked from 13 to 55are eligible to participate in the competitionbut the local league did nothave a CAF recognized cup competitionlast season.Previously, the FA Challenge Cup(formerly known as the Coca ColaCup) was the competition used toqualify for the CAF tournament.
TheNEC has been given the green lightto use their own set criteria when selectinga representative.GU and Nico submitted their requeststo the BFA in the past months;both teams have been the subject ofdiscussions during past NEC meetings.Moyagoleele are expected to getthe nod since they won the country’sonly domestic cup competition lastseason. Nico will miss out becausetheir second placed fi nish will notbe recognized since Botswana isranked outside the top 12 in Africa.
The CAF rules state that fromthe top 12 placed member associations,the winner of the domestic cupcompetition and the second or thirdplaced club in the domestic leagueof the considered associations areeligible to participate in the CAFConfederation Cup. The Zebras arecurrently ranked 26th in the continent;thus that rules out any chancesof Majombolo’s participation in thecup.BFA president Tebogo Sebegotold this reporter that an announcementwill be made soon days buthinted that GU will be selected. “Wehave been discussing it for a while.Normally cup winners are the requiredparticipants, runners up arenot always given fi rst option to participatein the Confederation Cup.That scenario puts GU in a good positionto be selected and we will submita name to CAF soon,” he said.