Cosafa Challenge Cup in jeopardy

THE Council of Southern Africa Football Association’s (Cosafa) Senior Challenge Cup for 2009 is in the balance, following a change of leadership in the Mpumalanga provincial government.

According to the Kick-Off football magazine’s web site yesterday, the provincial government was set to host the annual southern African championship for national teams.Mpumalanga staged the 14-team event in July and August last year at the start of a three-year deal with Cosafa, but following presidential elections won in April by Jacob Zuma, there has been a change in the Mpumalanga province’s leadership.Cosafa president Suketu Patel said the event, which has been part of the African calendar since 1997, is now in jeopardy.’We had a written commitment from the provincial government in September last year that they would put on the tournament in 2009 and 2010,’ Patel said in a statement.’This was reaffirmed telephonically by a representative of the province in April, though she has since left office. But despite follow-up communication with the province, we have received no further commitment from them, and that has put the tournament in jeopardy for this year. The situation has meant we have essentially lost eight months in searching for a new host. However, we are still hopeful of finding an alternative for 2009,’ said Patel.The tournament first started in 1997 with a lucrative sponsorship from South African Breweries, and live television coverage across Africa. But they later scaled down the event into mini-tournaments, and then withdrew their sponsorship in 2007. Last year’s event was played at three venues in the Mpumalanga province, who picked up all the costs. But hosts South Africa entered a team of second-division footballers and Angola sent their under-20 side, further devaluing the marketability of the tournament. South Africa won last year’s event with their President’s XI beating Mozambique in the final. Namibia recorded two wins, a draw and one defeat in Group B of that tournament. – Nampa