FC PLATINUM have been dealt a huge blow in their bid to maximise on home advantage in their maiden Champions League campaign after the Confederation of Africa Football controversially ordered that the miners must now use an alternative venue that is not Mandava.

The Premiership moneybags spent a fortune to refurbish Mandava in Zvishavane in order for the stadium to meet the international standards and even Caf acknowledged that the venue was now top notch.

Platinum then made their Champions League home debut at the venue when hosting Swaziland champions Green Mamba in a preliminary round, second leg encounter two weeks ago which they convincingly won 4-0 to complete a comprehensive 8-2 aggregate victory.

That game against Green Mamba was also historic in that it was the first time in the history of the local game that a Champions League tie had been staged outside Harare and Bulawayo with the match heralding a new era in which high-level football was being spread to other centres.

But the miners’ joy at writing their own piece of history and taking full advantage of their home ground has now been thrown into tatters ahead of the Champions League first round assignment with Caf directing that Platinum must find an alternative venue for the rest of the campaign.

Caf’s controversial order is on the basis that there are no adequate hotels in Zvishavane for Platinum to host visiting teams with the continental body arguing that it would not be proper for the 2011 Premiership runners-up to host their opponents in Masvingo.

In a letter to Zifa chief executive Jonathan Mashingaidze, Caf indicated that FC Platinum cannot continue to play at Mandava when their opponents would need to travel more than 90km to access the match venue from Masvingo.

After dispatching Green Mamba, Rahman Gumbo’s men have been bracing themselves for a much tougher first round, first leg date against Sudanese giants El Merreikh on the weekend of March 23-25 at home.

But the order from Caf which was communicated by the continental body’s head of clubs competitions Essam Ahmed wants Zifa to ensure that Platinum’s next assignment — the game against El Merreikh — would have to be played at a venue where there are hotels in line with their requirements.

Ahmed said Caf came up with the decision following damning reports by the referee and the Match Commissioner, who handled the FC Platinum against Green Mamba encounter.

Reports from Khartoum also indicated that El Merreikh had already been notified of the Caf order with the Sudanese champions reportedly now keen to know where their first round match will be played.

“Reference to match no. 36: FC Platinum ( Zimbabwe ) vs. Green Mamba (Swaziland) of the preliminary round of Caf Champions League — we regret to inform you that the match officials of the said match mentioned in their report the flowing:

“The match was played in a refurbished Mandava Stadium located in the City of Zvishavane that belongs to FC Platinum which is in good conditions, has good facilities but very hard access. In this city of Zvishavane you can’t find affordable accommodation.

l The referees travelled through Bulawayo international airport to Masvingo where there was accommodation. The distance from Bulawayo to Masvingo by road is 299km

l The Match Commissioner travelled through Harare international airport and the distance to Masvingo by road is 294km l The visiting team was accommodated at Masvingo too

l The distance from Masvingo to the match venue in 95km. this was too hard for both match officials and the visiting team to test the playground,’’ wrote Ahmed. Ahmed also made reference to the Caf regulations on staging such matches in areas where the distance from the airport is more than 200km.

“We would also like to remind you with the provisions of article 5 paragraph 4:

“If the distance between the capital city and the venue of the match is superior to 200km the host association shall provide the visitors with an airplane transport to the venue of the match and back.

“If this is not possible the match shall be played in the capital city except by agreement between the two teams. “Consequently you are kindly requested to change the venue — Mandava Stadium — and your future matches to another venue that has the necessary requirements to host Caf matches,’’ Ahmed said.

Mashingaidze said Zifa would immediately appeal against the Caf directive and seek to have the order set aside.

The Zifa chief executive said he had been surprised that Caf were coming down hard on FC Platinum on the issue of the 200km regulation and hotels when they had been silent against a host of complaints that have been lodged by Zimbabwean teams over the years.

Mashingaidze said the Caf directive could also put paid to Zifa’s bid to try and spread the international games to centres outside the traditional venues of Harare and Bulawayo .

“It is not the first time that teams have gone beyond the 200km mark by road, Dynamos and Monomotapa have experienced that in Tunisia, Motor Action recently travelled by road from Johannesburg to Polokwane.

“Even our own national team travelled a long distance by road from Khartoum to Wad Medani and there were poor hotels there but still Caf used that for the CHAN tournament. We have said the teams and the match officials can stay in Masvingo and travel the 90km journey to the match venue which will not affect them much.

“So we are going to strongly appeal against this decision which we believe also flies in the face of the efforts to spread football to areas that are not just the capital cities,’’ Mashingaidze said.

Although there is a provision for the two teams involved to strike a deal, sources close to El Merreikh indicated yesterday that the Sudanese giants are not likely to agree to any compromise and play the game at Mandava while coming from Masvingo.

El Merreikh continued with their build up to the clash against Platinum by positing a thumping 6-0 win against Alrabta Kosti at Merreikh Stadium on Saturday night with Nigerian striker Keletchi Osonuwa scoring four times while Zambian Jonas Sakuwaha and Sudanese Ragi Abdalaty added one apiece.