Football: Afcon 2023 qualifiers Seychelles prepare for preliminary round qualifiers |29 January 2022
SFF chief executive Bibi
With Seychelles drawn against Lesotho in the preliminary round qualifiers of the African Cup of Nations 2023, Seychelles Football Federation chief executive Georges Bibi tells us a bit about preparations for and the importance of Seychelles taking part in the forthcoming matches in March.
“Participating in the Afcon is crucial this time around. Our last participation in the Afcon qualifiers was in 2019, and we were eliminated in the preliminary round by South Sudan. It is to be noted that the current Afcon competition taking place in Cameroon was supposed to have taken place in 2021, but was postponed due to Covid-19 and restrictions. As a federation it is important that we participate in Confederation of African Football (Caf) competitions as it affects our Fifa ranking. So, we really must make every effort to be there and do our best,” said Mr Bibi.
The Seychelles Football Federation’s (SFF) goal going into the competition is to get to the group stage.
“We’ve never gone past the group stage when all teams were drawn into groups or even gone beyond the primary stage,” said Mr Bibi, adding “but we are confident that we can do it this year.”
The CEO admits that despite this new-found confidence, it's not going to be easy.
“We do not have a lot of time to prepare, and restrictions make it difficult, but we are working around them as best we can. We are focusing heavily on individual training where we put emphasis on physical conditioning as well as technical. Both of these are very important as our players need to be physically fit, and have stamina. We hope that restrictions will ease a bit as this is when we will be able to do more tactical conditioning,” explained Mr Bibi.
It is not just the state of the players that needs to improve, however. As these matches will be played on home and away basis, the SFF chief executive confessed that he fears our stadium ‒ Stad Linite ‒ and more specifically the state of our facilities will not be up to standard.
“We have a project, backed by Fifa to upgrade and improve the stadium facilities, however we only just received the signed usage agreement with the National Sports Council and this has set us back a bit,” he explained.
Not being able to play on home turf will inevitably affect the players. This will also be the case if travel bans are put in place again, as the players will have to play on neutral ground.
The most pressing worry, however, is the physical and mental state of the players due to the lack of training and competitions as a result of restrictions.
“It’s hard on the players, mentally as well as physically. Not to mention the fact that the lack of play also results in a loss of interest from management. It’s a chain reaction really.”
The preliminary qualifier matches are due to take place from March 21 to 29, 2022.
Contributed