Times Of Swaziland: EFA TO LEOPARD’S RESCUE AGAIN

EFA TO LEOPARD’S RESCUE AGAIN
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BY NTOKOZO MAGONGO on 30/11/2021 08:57:00


MBABANE – The Eswatini Football Association (EFA) will spend close to E500 000
in purchasing Royal Leopard’s air tickets to honour the second leg match of
the CAF Confederation Cup in Algeria.
Leopard will leave the country on Thursday for Algiers, where they will face JS
Kabylie in the second leg to be played on Sunday at the 1st November stadium in
Tizi-Ouzou. The police ensemble goes to the match with a 1-0 lead having won on
Sunday at Mavuso Sports Centre. The about E500 000 will cater for the air
tickets of 18 players and five officials. The club will have to finance itself
if there are additional costs during the trip. Leopard Public Relations Officer
(PRO) Frank Hurube confirmed that they would be assisted by EFA on the air
tickets among other things. He declined to go to the financial details of the
trip, but confirmed that it did not come cheap.
He said since they started their campaign in the CAF inter clubs tournaments,
the EFA had been behind them all the way – financially and otherwise.
A source close to the matter said each ticket costs about E20 000 as the team
will have to connect via Europe. The source said Leopard catered for JS
Kabylie’s financial expenses while they were here at home and the team is
expected to do the same when Leopard arrives in Algeria. JS Kabylie brought a
delegation of 41 players and officials and they stayed for four days at
Esibayeni Lodge.
“Leopard was going to struggle without the assistance from EFA and even now
they have also come to the rescue and they will be financing the trip to
Algeria,’ said the source. Hurube said they were short of words to thank EFA
for their support. He said since the start of their campaign, EFA had been by
their side and other stakeholders. “It is expensive to play in the CAF
tournaments and thanks to EFA and other stakeholders who came to our rescue,’
he said. Leopard first played Zambia’s ZESCO United in the CAF Champions
League preliminary round and they also faced Angola Sagrada in the second match
before playing Algeria’s JS Kabylie.