G. MAMBA IN LINE FOR E13M

MBABANE – Following a ground breaking CAF interclub tournaments prize breakdown, Green Mamba could strike it rich with a group stage finish in the Champions League.

CAF denotes Confederation of African Football. The CAF interclub tournaments are the TotalEnergies CAF Champions League and the CAF Confederation Cup. Representing Eswatini in the upcoming edition of the competitions will be MTN Premier League champions Green Mamba and runners-up Young Buffaloes in the Champions League and Confederation Cup, respectively. CAF has since reviewed the prizes of both competitions and increased them. This was during the CAF executive meeting held in Cairo, Egypt on Friday. “Earlier this year, CAF President Dr Patrice Motsepe announced a new prize money structure for TotalEnergies CAF Champions League and TotalEnergies CAF Confederation Cup. The announcement saw prize monies for the two competitions increase by 40 per cent, in line with Dr Motsepe’s commitment to make African football competitions globally competitive and self-sustaining,” a press statement by the Cairo-based entity reads.   

This means that Green Mamba stands to receive E13 505 000 (USD 700 000), if they break their CAF jinx and advance beyond the preliminary stages. This amount was according to yesterday’s exchange rate between South Africa’s Rand and United States of America (USA) Dollar. Capital city giants Mbabane Swallows did reach group stage in 2016/2017 but the money was not this much. At that time, the reward stood around E10.5 million (US$550 00). If the Ernest Mavuso-coached Green Mamba can emulate Swallows and reach the group stage, they will be handsomely rewarded for a team that has won only just E1 million as league champions, after eight months of hard work. If they get past the group stage to the quarter-finals, the money increases to as high as close to E20 million. Champions of the competition stand to pocket about E77 million.

Meanwhile, Buffaloes will almost receive half of Green Mamba’s prize for a group stage finish in the Confederation Cup. The group stage incentive is E7 780 000 (US$ 400 000). During the 2021/2022 season, Royal Leopard won USD 400 000, which amounts to E7 780 000 after reaching the group stages. Like the Correctional Services side, the army-side are still yet to play beyond the preliminary round. The prize monies will come into effect this season. This season’s CAF envoys being Mbabane Highlanders and Leopard will not benefit anything after failing to make it into the group stages. Notably, the lowest group finish prize was in 1997, CAF Champions league group finishers received E836 000 (US$ 190 000) as per the Bank of England’s June 1997 market exchange rate. Before this period, there were no cash prizes.

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