Mighty Mukuru Wanderers FC have shelved their plans to join the 2023/24 CAF Confederation Cup.

Soon after winning the Airtel Top 8 last year, the club’s president and board chairperson Thomson Mpinganjira said they would consider joining the continental tournament subject to availability of funds and coach Mark Harrison’s assessment of the team’s readiness.

But in a press statement issued by the club’s owners Mighty Wanderers Football Club (2021) Limited on Tuesday evening, the Nomads said they will not be participating in any international tournament this season.

The statement, co-signed by board secretary Chancy Gondwe and acting chief executive officer

 Roosevelt Mpinganjira, reads in part: “The club will not participate in this year’s tournaments as we are busy with the redevelopment of the squad.

“We have decided to defer international participation to ensure that we fully develop the squad before we consider competing in such tournaments.

“It’s better we compete than just participate for the sake of it.”

The statement further says the club is developing its strategic plan for the next 10 years which is a long-term plan both technically and commercially.

It reads: “This is in line with our vision of developing Wanderers as a going concern.

Jangale: We’ll see if there will be interests

“We would like also to create and build a successful and sustainable football club for the supporters before we return to continental football which has been the vision of our president and the board.” In his reaction, Harrison backed  

the club’s decision, saying there is still work to be done before going international. He said: “There are lots of things to consider when you are going continental. This team hasn’t participated in such tournaments for five years and it is a big step up. We have to crawl before we can walk.

“Of course, we have a strong squad, but we have a long season ahead with the league, FDH Bank Cup, Castel Cup and Airtel Top 8 coming up and when you compound it with CAF, we will certainly be playing a lot of catch-up games.

“CAF is a bit more difficult because it involves top teams in Africa.

“The unfortunate thing is that in the preliminary stages, there is no funding from CAF what-so-ever. You have to play the three round of games without any funding, if you don’t make the group stage, there is financial burden.

“If you see with [FCB Nyasa] Bullets, they have been knocked out in the preliminary stage [of the CAF Champions League] a couple of times, costing them a lot of money.

“So, we are where we are and we appreciate where we are. On the playing field, we are still in transition so too off the field. We just have to wait a little bit, maybe next year, maybe the year after.”

Football Association of Malawi licensing and compliance manager Casper Jangale said following Wanderers’ decision, they will see if there will be interests from other clubs to join the tournament.

“But priority will be teams that performed well in cup competitions, especially FDH Bank Cup,” he said.

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