• Kiglon soar as Dynamos, H'landers stutter • Stars over the moon after Independence Trophy win • Kiglon maintain fairytale start to season • Sadomba double lifts Dynamos • Highlanders held by Lengthens • Kiglon shoot down Stars to go top • Dynamos survive Mozambique scare • Malajila stars as H'landers gore Buffaloes • Dynamos take commanding lead over Sol • Malajila earns Highlanders draw in Zambia • Police call off league matches over poll violence fears • Busy schedule for league teams over Easter • Highlanders rampage as Dynamos, CAPS draw • CBZ unveils $4,5 trillion league sponsorship deal • 2008 Premier Soccer League Fixtures

By Nkanyiso Moyo

ZIFA confirmed Thursday that Highlanders will play their third round Confederations Cup first leg match against El Merreikh of Sudan at Gwanzura Stadium in Harare on Saturday, away from their beloved Barbourfields Stadium.

The move follows Highlanders' failure to find a suitable hotel for the visiting team in Bulawayo whose trip coincides with the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair which gets underway on Friday.

Highlanders said they had made some arrangements where El Merreikh will come into the city on Friday, play 24 hours later and fly out of the country on Sunday from Harare. Provisionally, they had put the match down for Gwanzura Stadium in Harare in a notice to CAF while working out that plan.

But ZIFA said it was too late to advise the Confederation of African Football (CAF) of a further change of venue, three days before the match when the mandatory period was 10 days.

Henrietta Rushwaya, the ZIFA CEO said: “It is too late to make changes now and advise CAF after we had written to them last week telling them of the changes. They (Highlanders) said they can pay the fine, but the 10 days mandatory time to request such a switch has lapsed.”

Rushwaya also referred Highlanders to Article 9 of the CAF regulations for Champions League and Confederation Cup matches which says:

"The venue of the match, the day of the match (Friday, Saturday, Sunday) and the kick-off time shall be fixed by the host association which shall inform the secretariat (CAF), the opposing team, the referees, and the match commissioner 10 days before the match.

"At this notification, neither the day, the venue nor the kick-off time can be changed except by written agreement between the two parties... if there is a change of venue, the defaulting association shall pay a US$2 000 fine."

“Our efforts have come to nought and we will play on Saturday in Harare,” said acting chairman Elkanah Dube on Thursday, just a day after he had confirmed the switch of venue from Gwanzura to Barbourfields.

Highlanders chairman Ernest Sibanda is on a fundraising mission in the United Kingdom. He told New Zimbabwe.com: "The Trade Fair hotel bookings were made soon after last year's Trade Fair. We only have three CAF-approved hotels in Bulawayo - the Holiday Inn, the Bulawayo Rainbow Hotel and Cresta Churchill. We just could not have anticipated this situation."
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