Mbabane: Eswatini CAF representatives Royal Leopard is now heading back home.
Their second leg, Confederation of African Football (CAF) Confederation Cup could not proceed as planned due to unforeseen circumstances.
The Edwin Matsebula-led side were forced to head back home as they could not connect a flight to Turkey reportedly as a result of heavy storms in the European country. According to Leopards Public Relations Officer (PRO) Frank Hurube, while waiting to connect a flight to Europe, they were informed in Egypt that the storms will last for four days forcing the team to return home as the game was billed for Thursday, January 27, 2022, kickoff 7pm.
“The team is heading home and will arrive at the Oshoek Border Gate by 5pm. Its a serious predicament but we have formally informed CAF and the Eswatini Football Association (EFA) in writing ” said the PRO. Hurube further indicated that they now awaited direction from the local and continental football bodies.
The team’s travel to Algeria was segmented in such a manner that they had to travel by road to Johannesburg, South Africa before a connecting a flight to Ethiopia, Addis Ababa. From the continents flight horizon, the team connected another flight to Cairo Egypt where they were supposed to take off to Turkey before connecting again to their final destination.
However, it was in Egypt that they got the memo informing them that a heavy storm in Turkey has resulted to flights headed to the European country being suspended and it would last for the next four days.
This is not the first time this game has not transpired due to unforeseen circumstances as it was initially suspended in the first leg. the CAF Confederation Cup match between the Algerian side JS Kabylie and Royal Leopards was halted due to travel restrictions arising from the COVID-19 pandemic towards the end of November last year.
