Council of Southern African Football Associations (COSAFA) president, Suketu Patel, talks about the upcoming COSAFA Castle Challenge set for Harare and Bulawayo this month. (Pictured: Suketu Patel, COSAFA president.)Can you clarify the reason behind Madagascars withdrawal from this years event?
Suketu Patel: They had a prior engagement. It was difficult because we were obviously quite late in getting the dates set while we were in negotiations to find a suitable host, and Madagascar were affected by this. It is unfortunate for them and for us.
Can you also clarify the situation regarding Tanzania?
SP: We desperately wanted to have the competition with the full complement of 14 teams as it provided us with two full groups of four teams in the first round. We invited Tanzania as they are a country who has done very well in recent competitions and made great strides at international level.
Their Brazilian coach Marcio Maximo is very highly regarded on the African continent. After it initially looked as though they would be able to participate, they declined our invitation on the basis of scheduling once again. They have domestic action to complete before the start of their own regional tournament, the Cecafa Senior Challenge Cup, and it was just not possible for them to be in Zimbabwe as well.
How did Zimbabwe come to be host to this years tournament?
SP: We had been seeking sponsors for the last two years and within that comes the search for hosts. We held the tournament in the Mpumalanga province in South Africa in 2007 and 2008, but that was no longer an option for us this year. We were actually approached by the Zimbabwe tourism authorities earlier this year about staging the event in that country. They would like to re-brand Zimbabwe as a country that has the means and facilities to host teams during the 2010 FIFA World Cup and they see this tournament as a vehicle to do that.
Are you confident that logistically everything is in place to receive the teams?
SP: Absolutely. If the launch is anything to go by the tournament will be a great success. The Zimbabwean government has been fantastic in their backing of the event and there is great enthusiasm amongst the people in the country for this competition. We would not have handed Zimbabwe the responsibility of hosting the event were we not certain of their ability to make a success of it.
Castle Lager is back on board as sponsors of the competition. Is it for 2009 only?
SP: It is just for this year as things stand at the moment, but we are looking at the possibility of extending it beyond that. We will enter negotiations with them after the tournament is complete and look for common ground, and hopefully tie-up something more long-term.
How important do you think this competition is to the region?
SP: It is extremely important. It is like a nursery for future stars and every country can look at their players currently in the national set-up and say they were bred through the senior competition or the junior ones. That is very important because it is living proof that the stars of the future are in display right now. I think a further indicator to how seriously this tournament is taken is that we made the decision to stage the event even if we had not found a sponsor. That shows a financial commitment from the COSAFA regions and that only comes with a desire to make this work. I can say categorically that the national associations value this competition and do want it to keep running.
Has COSAFA ever considered implementing a club competition similar to the North African Cup of Champions that is open to clubs only from that region?
SP: It has been discussed, but there are a number of very important issues to consider. Number one would be scheduling because aside from their domestic commitments, clubs from the Southern African region are very much involved in the CAF club competitions as we saw this year with Zesco United and Monomotapa reaching the group stages of the Champions League, and Primeiro de Agosto and Santos playing in the CAF Confederation Cup. Would we be able to fit in a regional club competition too? Then we have identified that we need to concentrate on making our international events stable and securing their futures first before we branch out into club football. That is what we have been doing and what we continue to do. But if the opportunity arises in the future for a club competition, we will certainly consider it.
Can COSAFA play a role in assisting South Africa with their hosting of the 2010 FIFA World Cup?
SP: I do not think we have a direct role to play, but we do participate in the legacy programme, which our members are attached to. Practical ways we can assist is by testing out venues for the tournament through the hosting of matches and so on, but it does not really stretch much beyond that.
Post published in: Football