Orlando Pirates' well-laid plans for their upcoming trip to Tunisia have been thrown into turmoil with the late revelation that their African Confederation Cup tie against CS Sfaxien has been switched from Saturday to Sunday.
Pirates were originally told that Sfaxien would host the match on Saturday night and, accordingly, booked flights via Dubai to afford themselves minimal lay-over time.
But the club were informed yesterday by CAF that the game would now be taking place on Sunday night.
It is breach of CAF rules, which state that any changes must be communicated 14 days before the match, but will have to be accepted by Pirates, who have little recourse to action.
The club now face a prohibitively expensive re-booking of their flights. Expecting to play on Saturday, they chose to fly via Dubai to Tunisia tomorrow, seeking the shortest lay-over time for their players to keep them fresh.
"There were options of travelling through Cairo, Paris or Doha but Dubai offered the shortest lay-over time for the players," explained club administrative manager Floyd Mbele yesterday.
Connection times between flights, where players are forced to wait for their next plane, are often draining on travellers and Pirates are seeking to minimise the effect as there are no direct flights between South Africa and Tunisia. The Buccaneers looked at all the options and felt that to fly via the United Arab Emirates would be the easiest.
The team were to depart Johannesburg tomorrow night and get to Dubai the next morning after an eight-hour flight. They would have waited just two hours before hopping onto a connecting flight to Tunis, which will take about six hours and 15 minutes.
They are now likely to make the same arrangements for Thursday instead. Sunday's game at the Stade Taïeb Mhiri, where Bafana Bafana had success at the 2004 Africa Cup of Nations finals, kicks off at 9.15pm South African time
The match marks the midway point in the group phase of the Confederation Cup for Pirates, who won away at the start of the campaign in the Congo last month but then suffered a 2-1 home defeat in their last clash against Zamalek of Egypt.
CAF mess up Pirates' travel plans
Orlando Pirates' well-laid plans for their upcoming trip to Tunisia have been thrown into turmoil with the late revelation that their African Confederation Cup tie against CS Sfaxien has been switched from Saturday to Sunday.
Pirates were originally told that Sfaxien would host the match on Saturday night and, accordingly, booked flights via Dubai to afford themselves minimal lay-over time.
But the club were informed yesterday by CAF that the game would now be taking place on Sunday night.
It is breach of CAF rules, which state that any changes must be communicated 14 days before the match, but will have to be accepted by Pirates, who have little recourse to action.
The club now face a prohibitively expensive re-booking of their flights. Expecting to play on Saturday, they chose to fly via Dubai to Tunisia tomorrow, seeking the shortest lay-over time for their players to keep them fresh.
"There were options of travelling through Cairo, Paris or Doha but Dubai offered the shortest lay-over time for the players," explained club administrative manager Floyd Mbele yesterday.
Connection times between flights, where players are forced to wait for their next plane, are often draining on travellers and Pirates are seeking to minimise the effect as there are no direct flights between South Africa and Tunisia. The Buccaneers looked at all the options and felt that to fly via the United Arab Emirates would be the easiest.
The team were to depart Johannesburg tomorrow night and get to Dubai the next morning after an eight-hour flight. They would have waited just two hours before hopping onto a connecting flight to Tunis, which will take about six hours and 15 minutes.
They are now likely to make the same arrangements for Thursday instead. Sunday's game at the Stade Taïeb Mhiri, where Bafana Bafana had success at the 2004 Africa Cup of Nations finals, kicks off at 9.15pm South African time
The match marks the midway point in the group phase of the Confederation Cup for Pirates, who won away at the start of the campaign in the Congo last month but then suffered a 2-1 home defeat in their last clash against Zamalek of Egypt.
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