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Sikhumbuzo Moyo and Mukudzei Chingwere
ZIMBABWE soccer kings FC Platinum say their rules of engagement in the Champions League remain the same, with the Zvishavane miners angling for a place in the group stages of the tournament. FC Platinum begin their latest African adventure with an away tie to Malagasy outfit Cnaps on November 27 before hosting the same team at Mandava on December 5.

“Our objective remains the same and that is reaching the group stages of the Total CAF Champions League and we believe we have learnt our lessons from the previous failures,” said coach Norman Mapeza.

After the preliminary round matches against Cnaps, FC Platinum are likely to face the same team that eliminated them early this year, Premeiro Agosto of Angola, who were drawn against Congo Brazzaville side Atoho at the first hurdle.

Like in the previous meeting, Pure Platinum will be on the road for the first round on December 14 before hosting their opponents at home, two days before Christmas Day.

Agosto thumped FC Platinum 5-1 on aggregate, having won 3-0 in Luanda before posting a 2-1 win in Zvishavane in the return leg.

Experience and the zeal to succeed is likely to be the driving force for the platinum miners this time around as they have retained the same squad that saw them defend the Castle Lager Premiership.

Unlike in previous campaigns, the players are still active, something which will see cohesion not becoming a big problem.
In 2012 FC Platinum failed to reach the group stages of Africa’s biggest club knock-out tournament after losing to Sudanese giants, Al-Merreikh.

The draw for the group stage format will be held on December 28 with the games getting underway from January 11 up to March 17, 2019.

The first round of the quarter-finals will be held on April 5-7, 2019 with the reverse fixtures a week later.
FC Platinum have also requested clubs of their new signings to release them as they prepare for the continental sojourn starting later this month.

FC Platinum only signed three players, Ian Nekati from ZPC Kariba, Lameck Nhamo from Triangle United and Rainsome Pavari from Bulawayo City as part of efforts to boost their Champions League squad.

Mapeza wants his new signings to have more training with the team before plunging into the African jungle.
Club spokesperson Chido Chizondo confirmed they have written to the three clubs requesting to have the trio before the end of the campaign.

“We have requested to have the players next week after match day 33 so that they can start training with the team before the start of the champions’ league.

“We have few days to prepare so if we wait for the season to come to an end they will have very few days to train with the group.
“We are now waiting for responses from the respective clubs but that is where we are at the moment,” said Chizondo.

The champions have also lined up massive victory celebrations in the mining town of Zvishavane on Saturday when they will be presented with their Premiership trophy.

The celebrations start as early as 10 am with supporters expected to join the party that will be done at Mandava’s B arena.
After their league match against Ngezi Platinum several dancehall musicians, including King Shady, PaChihera and a host of others will perform as part of the celebrations.

“We will start the celebrations at 10 in the morning with our supporters we have lined up a number of actives like braai among other things and we expect most of our supporters to join.

“After the game a number of musicians will be performing as part of our celebrations we decided to bring Zim dancehall musicians as they resonate well with the players,” said Chizondo.