MBABANE – The national football team, Sihlangu, face a costly journey for their upcoming FIFA World Cup Qualifiers.
Sihlangu will play Cameroon on Thursday, September 4, at the Complexe Sportif Japoma Stadium in Douala, followed by a match against Libya four days later at the International Stadium in Benghazi. Both matches are for Group D in the 2026 International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) World Cup Qualifiers.
Eswatini senior national football outfit currently sit at the bottom of the group with two points after six matches.
They are also 11 points behind group leaders Cape Verde, who hold the automatic qualification spot.
Sihlangu still have a slim chance to grab the runner-up position, as four second-place teams from across the nine continental groups will advance to the next qualification round.
The team, led by Croatian Coach Zdravko ‘Loga’ Logarusic, who is expected to arrive in the country this week, is likely to depart late this month or early next month for these two away games.
According to sources, a 20-member squad, six technical staff members and a head of delegation (HoD) are expected to travel. Some possible 20 players likely to enter Sihlangu camp, which Eswatini Football Association (EFA) did not confirm, was leaked two days ago.
“The travel cost is over a million, to my knowledge, and that’s just for the air tickets. It must be anything close to E1.45 million if I recall very well,” a well-informed insider said.
This corroborates an estimate by this publication, which researched and calculated the flight tickets alone to be around E950 000 for the entire trip.
The estimated cost includes airfare from Johannesburg, South Africa (SA), to the central and western Africa’s host city for the match in Douala.
The cheapest tickets cost E12 453. As there are no direct flights from Cameroon to North Africa, Libya, the cost per person is estimated to be E14 000, and a return flight could cost around E16 000.
There are also additional costs, among other expenses such as accommodation and meals.
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