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Sikhumbuzo Moyo, Acting Sports Editor

THE Confederation of African Football (Caf) have made a huge change of policy by allowing Caf B coaching certificate holders to sit on the bench for the forthcoming continental interclub competitions in a move that is expected to cascade down to individual associations’ domestic leagues.

Previously only Caf A certificate holders were allowed to sit on the bench and while other associations did not make it mandatory for coaches in their domestic leagues to have Caf A in order to be licensed to sit on the bench, Zifa took a hard stance and barred any coach not holding a Caf A badge from sitting on the bench, especially in the Premier Soccer League where the head coach and assistant ought to be Caf A holders while for the second tier league, the head coach must hold a Caf B qualification.

In correspondence dated November 16 and seen by this publication, Caf acting secretary general Abdelmounaim Bah wrote that the Caf Technical and Development Committee had confirmed to ‘exceptionally allow the participation of head coaches holding valid Caf B licence for countries that haven’t organised any Caf A courses in the past five years.’

No country has held any Caf A courses in the period under review after the continental mother body froze holding of the courses in a bid to review the coaching syllabus.