The Confederation of African Football (CAF) appears to have hit Plateau United below the belt after the NPFL side was denied access to train at the Stade Olympique Rades on Friday.
The Stade Olympique Rades is the venue for the Champions League crucial second leg final round game between Esperance and Plateau United on Saturday night.
Plateau United takes a slim advantage in the game having won the first leg 2-1 at the MKO Abiola Stadium a fortnight ago.
It was scooped from our source in Tunis that in the pre-match meeting, CAF officials told Plateau United that they can not have a training session at the Stade Olympique Rades, as they were only allowed to familiarise with the environment in the stadium.
When Plateau United officials inquired why they were been denied access to train, a CAF official showed them a copy of a letter dated today (Friday), which stated: Kindly note that the Olympic Stadium in Rades is hosting the following two CAF
M#56 EST v Plateau United FC on 15 Oct. 2022, M#52 Club Africain v Kipanga FC on 16 Oct. 2022.
Accordingly, to maintain the condition of the pitch of the stadium and reduce
note that the Official Training will not be done in the stadium and the visiting
allowed to do a familiarization visit on Friday 14 Oct. 2022.
FTF is urgently requested to confirm the pitch hosting the official training of b
We thank you for your understanding and cooperation.
The Peace Boys had no choice than to train one of the practice pitch made available, which was in a deplorable state.
Efforts to reach the Head Coach of Plateau United, Fidelis Ilechukwu didn’t yield success as he was busy with his assistants in training.
But an official (who didn’t want his name online) said: “Ilechukwu wouldn’t want to dragged in any issue relating to CAF, rather he wants to concentrate on his team to ensure that they come out with a favourable result against Esperance on Saturday night.”
The winner of the two leg fixture will qualify to the group stage of the CAF Champions League while the loser will compete in the Confederation Cup play-offs.
On getting to the stage, the Fidelis Ilechukwu’s side played a 2-2 away draw against Gabonese side, AS Mandji in the preliminary round.
