Lesotho Football Association (LeFA) secretary general Mokhosi Mohapi has cleared the air on why the defending premier league champions, Bantu, will not get any relief funding from the Confederation of African Football (CAF).
On Monday CAF announced that it will be disbursing US$62 500 (about M950 000) to all clubs that were eliminated in the first round of the 2020/21 CAF Champions’ League and CAF Confederations Cup campaigns. CAF received the money from FIFA as part of its Covid-19 relief funds.
Bantu represented Lesotho in this year’s edition as league champions but were knocked out by Nkana FC of Zambia in the preliminary stages of the tournament last December.
After it was announced that CAF would be releasing the funds, several football fans have been asking whether Bantu was eligible for the funds. But Mohapi this week said Bantu will not get the funds.
“The question that one must ask is whether or not Bantu played the first round of the competition and the answer is no because they were knocked out in the preliminary phase of the competition,” Mohapi said.
“The funding is only for teams which played the first round and not teams which played in the preliminary stages.
“There is a difference between playing in preliminary stage and the first stages. Teams that play in the preliminary stage only get to the first round by advancing into the first round which is mostly for seeded teams. So, unfortunately, as much as we would have all wanted Bantu to benefit, that will not be the case this time around,” Mohapi said.
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