Kaizer Chiefs are counting the escalating costs of their trip to Angola to meet Primeiro de Agosto‚ with Covid-19 pushing the amount they will have to pay far higher than a normal Caf Champions League away outing.

Angola has shut its borders to South Africa due to this country’s rapidly rising Covid-19 numbers but the SA Football Association (Safa) has negotiated‚ and are close to confirming‚ special dispensation for Chiefs to travel to Luanda on Sunday for their second leg game on Tuesday. Chiefs drew the home match 0-0 at FNB Stadium last Wednesday.

With no commercial flights available to Angola due to the border shutdown‚ Amakhosi will have to arrange an expensive charter flight from Johannesburg to Luanda.

Then there is the cost of Covid-19 tests in South Africa – about R850 per travelling person – and then again in Angola to return home‚ which Chiefs are informed can apparently cost the club a staggering R4‚000 per person.

Chiefs’ travelling party from SA for continental outings can be as many as 40 people‚ including a 20-man squad‚ eight technical staff‚ football manager Bobby Motaung‚ communications staff‚ and crew of the Kaizer Chiefs TV show.

Even if they trim down to 35‚ the Covid-19 tests alone will cost the team around an additional R170‚000 that would not be factored into a travelling cost for a Champions League away game in normal circumstances‚ where such trips can cost R1.5-million to R2-million.

Adding the cost of the charter flight‚ plus the factor that Luanda is a notoriously expensive city on the African continent‚ with expensive hotels and food‚ and the fact that Confederation of African Football regulations are for each player to have their own room‚ and Chiefs are expecting a hefty bill for the trip.

Safa have argued for Angola to allow Chiefs into Angola as time did not allow Amakhosi or Primeiro to find an adjoining neutral venue to play at.

Chiefs and Primeiro are meeting in the first found‚ the second stage after the preliminary round‚ where Amakhosi beat PWD Bamenda of Cameroon 1-0 on aggregate. The winners of the first round tie enter the 2020-21 group stage.