Kaizer Chiefs have decided to relinquish their league match against Cape Town City which was scheduled to take place at the FNB Stadium on Saturday night after the disarray that was caused by positive cases of Covid-19.
On Friday morning, Amakhosi reported that no fewer than 31 personnel within their camp this week had tested positive for Covid-19. This feat forced them to quarantine, while they also had to close their base for the next few days.
However, Chiefs also confirmed that they wrote to the Premier Soccer League (PSL) to have all four matches this month postponed, beginning with their clash against the Citizens. But it appears that was declined by the executive committee.
The Citizens’ chairman John Comitis who’s also part of exco confirmed to online publication TimesLive on Friday afternoon that, indeed, that they had sat and decided against allowing Chiefs the permission to have their matches moved.
“I think it's quite straightforward. The game has not been postponed officially by the league. We will be at the game. It was discussed at the exco. And the circumstances were debated but unfortunately, those are confidential,” he said.
Indeed, the Citizens were at the Cape Town International Airport on Friday, heading to Johannesburg to honour their clash against Chiefs. Amakhosi, though, issued a statement early in the evening, saying they’ve forfeited the match.
“In light of the recent outbreak of Covid-19 infections that has befallen the club, Kaizer Chiefs submitted two letters to the Premier Soccer League pleading for the postponement of the remaining matches set for December,” they said.
“In the interim, the prevailing circumstances dictate that Kaizer Chiefs must sadly confirm that the club will be unable to host the match against Cape Town City, scheduled for Saturday, 4 December (at the FNB Stadium set for 6pm kick-off).”
The match will likely be deemed as a walkover for City, with Chiefs losing the match and all three points. Amakhosi, though, are said to have had only 13 players available for the match, while that was an eligible number for them to play.
Another feat that could have seen them lose the appeal is that it's not only them who are enduring the wrath of Covid-19. Clubs such as Sundowns have also been complaining about some of their players contracting flu in the past few days.
Meanwhile, the country has also seen a sharp spike in the positive Covid-19 cases after the detection of the new variant, Omicron, a week ago. On Friday night, the country had recorded 16055 new cases – almost 4000 news cases from Thursday.
IOL Sport