By KALUMIANA KALUMIANA –
MBABANE Swallows are in a desperate attempt to bounce back in the CAF 2014 Champions League competition by pursuing the eligibility of Nkana defender Christopher Munthali to play for Zambian side in the inter-club championship.
According to the Times of Swaziland, Swallows are pursuing an eligibility case against at least two Nkana players.
The article further alleges that Munthali, who is on loan from Power Dynamos, was registered after the January 15 deadline and cannot also feature for Nkana in continental games citing Article 26 of the 2014 CAF Champions League regulations.
But Nkana have rubbished claims with club secretary Ken Mwansa saying that Swallows allegations were a desperate act to try and overturn their 5-4 aggregate preliminary round defeat.
Swallows led 2-nil from the first leg on February 9 in Manzini before Nkana mounted a dramatic rally to win 5-2 on February 15 at home in Kitwe to advance to the first round.
“The truth of the matter is that we registered him (Munthali) way in advance before December 25. The only player we registered late was Bruce Musakanya but even Bruce’s registration was before the January 15 deadline,” Mwansa said in an interview in Kitwe.
Musakanya is on loan from Red Arrows but is yet to kick the ball for Nkana due to fitness problems.
“And the cards came out without any queries of any anomaly and we received confirmation from CAF. If they are alleging that we illegally registered him, are they saying we connived with CAF to have him registered late?
“The truth of the matter is that registration was done before December 25. The defeat was quite painful, I mean, leading literally 3-0 and to lose in that manner, they just want to justify their defeat,” Mwansa said.
Munthali is currently on loan from Power after extending the deal for a second season in January.
Meanwhile, Article 26 of the 2014 CAF Champions League Regulations states: “A player is not qualified to play in the CAF Champions League in case he was registered with a club and then loaned by this club to another one unless he was registered again in the second period of registration.”
