By Kei Emmanuel Duku
The head coach of Al-Ahly Football Benghazi Club has called on the Confederation of African Football (CAF) to revise the calendar for the African Champions League and Confederations Cup.
Dejan Arsove’s comments followed his team’s elimination from the first round of the CAF Champions League by Al-Hilal Omdurman FC of Sudan.
Arsove attributed Al-Ahly’s defeat to inadequate preparation, as the team was still in the middle of their pre-season period.
“We were unable to play like we wanted partially because of the fitness level of our players,” he said.
Despite the limited training time, Arsove praised his team’s performance in the return leg of the match. He urged other African coaches to join him in advocating for a universal league calendar across the continent.
“I have constantly spoken about this, but no one has listened to me,” Arsove said. “If we come together as managers and coaches, we will be able to tackle such issues. This is why I said I am proud of my team because we trained for around 15-20 days only.”