{"id":39234,"date":"2023-12-02T19:58:05","date_gmt":"2023-12-02T19:58:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/?p=39234"},"modified":"2023-12-02T15:45:45","modified_gmt":"2023-12-02T15:45:45","slug":"bull-birds-interested-in-continental-association","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/bull-birds-interested-in-continental-association","title":{"rendered":"\u2018BULL\u2019, \u2018BIRDS\u2019 INTERESTED IN CONTINENTAL ASSOCIATION"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Eswatini. <\/strong><\/span>As there is an ongoing debate on which is the country\u2019s best team, some teams are already interested in taking up the CAF\u2019s best slot in the Africa Club Association (ACA).<\/b><\/p>\n

The Confederation of African Football two days ago launched the ACA. However, no Eswatini team automatically got a slot, as only the top 80 teams that are inaugural associates of the ACA. However, nothing is lost for the country as in the interest of inclusivity, the most successful football club in a member association is eligible to apply for membership. It is said that an eligible club that wishes to be part of the organisation will need to submit an application in writing to the ACA administration. Worth noting is that CAF\u2019s most successful club rankings are based on a five-year inter-club competition performance. Among local best CAF ranked teams, in no particular order, are Royal Leopard, Mbabane Swallows, Mbabane Highlanders, Young Buffaloes and Green Mamba.<\/p>\n

Out of a number of objectives, the ACA seems to address the local pressing issues, including building partnerships with sponsors. These partnerships with the private sector and governments would assist in the construction of stadiums that comply with CAF and FIFA standards. Eswatini is currently among over 20 countries without a stadium that complies with CAF benchmarks. In the previous season, Buffaloes withdrew from the TotalEnergies CAF Confederation Cup earlier this year due to heavy costs incurred due to lack of a home ground.<\/p>\n

Initiative<\/b><\/p>\n

Six-time league winners and 2016\/17 CAF Champions League group finishers, Swallows, welcomed the initiative. \u2018Birds\u2019 Public Relations Officer (PRO) Knowledge Ngwenya said it was long overdue. \u201cWe would like to pass our utmost appreciation to CAF and all stakeholders for such a move. It was long overdue, as it seeks to address issues we have faced with no support. At the right time if given an opportunity to apply, we will surely make means,\u201d Ngwenya said.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, cross-town rivals Highlanders PRO Kenneth Dlamini said he was not better positioned to comment but said it was a good move. The \u2018Bull\u2019 have last won a league title at the entry of the century and were knocked out of the Confederation preliminary stages last season by South Africa\u2019s Royal AM. \u201cIt is better to speak about something one is well versed with. We are not aware of the conditions it comes with but we\u2019ll indicate if we\u2019re applying once we get enough knowledge about it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Armed<\/b><\/p>\n

However, police-side PRO Frank Hurube said once they were armed with the right information, they would check if it was viable. He said they had not received any communication from Eswatini Football Association (EFA) or his bosses, but heard about the ACA launch. Leopard are the CAF\u2019s best ranked team locally and have won the league eight times. However, EFA Marketing and Communications Officer Muzi Radebe said his office was still awaited a formal communication from CAF. \u201cCAF has not said anything yet, which would be a guide as to what steps we should take next. Therefore, it is hard to tell if we would make means to have the country represented in ACA,\u201d Radebe said.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Eswatini<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Eswatini. As there is an ongoing debate on which is the country\u2019s best team, some teams are already interested in taking up the CAF\u2019s best slot in the Africa Club Association (ACA). The Confederation of African Football two days ago launched the ACA. However, no Eswatini team automatically got a slot, as only […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":39233,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,17],"tags":[234,248,249],"class_list":["post-39234","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-sport","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-eswatini","tag-eswatini"],"yoast_head":"\n\u2018BULL\u2019, \u2018BIRDS\u2019 INTERESTED IN CONTINENTAL ASSOCIATION - Eswatini<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"As there is an ongoing debate on which is the country\u2019s best team, some teams are already interested in taking up the ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/bull-birds-interested-in-continental-association\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\u2018BULL\u2019, \u2018BIRDS\u2019 INTERESTED IN CONTINENTAL ASSOCIATION\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"As there is an ongoing debate on which is the country\u2019s best team, some teams are already interested in taking up the ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/bull-birds-interested-in-continental-association\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Eswatini\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-12-02T19:58:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/sites\/33\/2023\/12\/sm_1701518831.550103.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/bull-birds-interested-in-continental-association#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/bull-birds-interested-in-continental-association\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"\u2018BULL\u2019, \u2018BIRDS\u2019 INTERESTED IN CONTINENTAL ASSOCIATION\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-12-02T19:58:05+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/bull-birds-interested-in-continental-association\"},\"wordCount\":546,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/bull-birds-interested-in-continental-association#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/sites\/33\/2023\/12\/sm_1701518831.550103.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Eswatini\",\"Eswatini\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"sport\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/bull-birds-interested-in-continental-association#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/bull-birds-interested-in-continental-association\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/bull-birds-interested-in-continental-association\",\"name\":\"\u2018BULL\u2019, \u2018BIRDS\u2019 INTERESTED IN CONTINENTAL ASSOCIATION - 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