Football: Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) 2023 |01 March 2022

From left to right: National team manager Michael Delpeche, head coach Vivian Bothe and SFF chief executive George Mr Bibi (Photo: Patrick Joubert)

Seychelles to play “home game” in Mauritius

The Seychelles men’s national selection will play their preliminary stage first leg match of the Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) 2023 with Lesotho at the Côte d'Or National Sports Complex, St Pierre, Mauritius, on March 23,2022.

It was the secretary general of the Seychelles Football Federation (SFF) Georges Bibi, who made the announcement to the press at the Maison Football, Roche Caïman. Also present were national team head coach Vivian Bothe and team manager Michael Delpeche.

Although Seychelles NATION was not invited to yesterday’s press conference, the newspaper was able to get in to gather information to share with its readers.

According to Mr Bibi, the reason for the national selection to play their “home game” in Mauritius rather than at Stad Linite is because the stadium has not had the approval of the Confederation of African Football (Caf) to host international matches as it needs further renovation and upgrading to fit the purpose.

Mr Bibi explained that Mauritius has received approval from Caf to host our country’s national team home game against Lesotho and has further invited our national selection to play one or two friendly matches against theirs.

He said the national selection will leave on March 16, 2022 for Mauritius where they will play the friendly match(es) prior to their Afcon preliminary stage “home game”.

The Seychelles selection will later travel to Dobsonville, (Soweto), Southwest of Johannesburg, South Africa, for the away match against Lesotho on March 27, 2022.

One of Africa’s 12 least ranked teams, Seychelles will have to eliminate Lesotho inthe preliminary stages to progress to the main groupings draw of the 34th TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations 2023 in Ivory Coast.

The other five pairing are as follows: High-flying Afcon debutants the Gambia will play Chad, Sao Tome will face Mauritius, Djibouti will meet South Sudan, Somalia will face Eswatini and Eritrea will clash with Botswana.

The preliminary round games of two-leg ties will be played between March 21 and March 29, 2022. The six winners on aggregate scores will join 42 other countries in a draw that will produce 12 groups with the winners and runners-up qualifying for the next Afcon tournament in Ivory Coast in 2023.

Mr Bibi said the friendly match(es) with Mauritius will be an opportunity for the team to test their strength, taking into account that they haven’t had the chance to do so since their last international outing in Sri Lanka in November last year. He added that apart from the air fares, all expenses while in Mauritius will be catered for by their Mauritian counterparts.

Going back to the improvement and upgrading of Stad Linite, Mr Bibi said a lot of work needs to be done to bring the stadium to the level recommended by Caf and the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (Fifa) for hosting of international matches. He noted that the improvements include redoing the pitch, installation of the required floodlights to facilitate late night football, new sittings facilities including bunker seats for substitutes and the fourth official, additional showers and proper lockers, a blackboard area for players’ instructions, a massage area in the changing rooms and a medical facility, and a control room for security purpose, among others.

Mr Bibi said the SFF is working in collaboration with the National Sports Council (NSC) to start the renovation work on Stad Linite which will cost between US $800,000 and US $1 million so that Seychelles can host their next opponents in the event of reaching the group stage of the qualifiers.

Head coach Bothe said the national selection have not been finalised yet but it will be made up of 70% of players who took part in and won the Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa Trophy, the four nations’ competition hosted by Sri Lanka in November 2021.

He added that the team had been training on Mondays, Saturdays and Sundays but are now training only on Mondays since the re-start of the national league recently.

Mr Bibi explained that according to the SFF’s standard operating procedures (SOPs) players who are not vaccinated against Covid-19 will not be called to the national selection, and they will have to do a PCR test or conduct an antigen test 42 hours before their scheduled local league match.

He added that the SFF has PCR and antigen kits in store for local clubs and it can also provide training for members on how to use them.

Patrick Joubert