Rollers fined P400, 000, kick-off moved to 9pm
Kabelo Boranabi | Friday May 4, 2018 13:00
Speaking to Mmegi Sport yesterday, Rollers’ public relations officer, Bafana Pheto said as per CAF requirements, the club had to seek a broadcasting partner for the group stage games.
He said the club recommended national television station, Botswana Television (Btv) but the broadcaster failed to meet the CAF requirements.
“It’s still early stages to comment but there is a penalty by CAF which involves three parties, the BFA (Botswana Football Association), Btv and Rollers. The requirements are that we should have a broadcasting partner for the games. We then recommended Btv since they are our national broadcaster.”
“Upon a visit by CAF to check all the logistics, it turned that Btv failed to meet some of the requirements.
You should remember that CAF communicates with us (Rollers) through the BFA but at the end of the day the penalty would be paid by us,” Pheto said. The fine would be deducted from the prize money. “We were not aware that Btv does not meet CAF requirement. They will not produce the game, instead they will get the feed from Supersport. As BFA, we are here to assist Rollers going forward so that they do not suffer any other losses.
We, the BFA and Rollers only learnt that Btv cannot produce the game at a late stage but we are working to avoid such cases in the future,” BFA spokesperson, Tumo Mpatane said.
Rollers will begin their CAF Champions League group stages journey tonight as they welcome KCCA of Uganda at the National Stadium. The game has been moved to 9pm as per the CAF requirements that all games should commence at the time. Initially, the game was supposed to kick of at 7pm.
Both sides would be making their debuts in the stage of the competition. The Ugandan side boasts better experience in the continental games as they reached the group stages of the CAF Confederations Cup last year.
The Kasasiro Boys collected nine points and conceded a single goal in their CAF endeavours.
Speaking at a press briefing yesterday, KCCA coach, Mike Mutebi said despite having a very youthful side with an average age of 21 years, his side would not be intimated as they face Popa.
He was worried about his opponent’s scoring as Popa has only failed to hit the net once in the 0-0 against Young Africans.
“This is our first game in the group stages. We missed last year, but now we are here. Rollers are a scoring team.
They score everywhere they go and in every game it is not easy. They are an attacking team, we are an attacking team. If the pitch is good, the weather is fine and the officiating is excellent then we would have a good game of football,” he said.
His counterpart, Rollers’ Nikola Kavazovic said his side would be aiming for maximum points as they play their first game on home soil. “We know everything about them.
Scouting has been done in every possible way. This is our game in the group stages. My players are the best in the world; they did something that everyone in the country did not think,” he said.