Davids: Give us our home, CAF

by Staff Reporter

Tuesday May 20, 2025. 10:16

Simba head coach Fadlu Davids has made a plea to the Confederation of African Football (CAF) to move the second leg of the Confederation Cup final to the Benjamin Mkapa Stadium.

The Reds of Msimbazi need to overturn a 2-0 deficit against RS Berkane to win their first continental title after Mamadou Camara (8′) and Oussama Lamlioui (14′) scored two early goals in the first leg at the Berkane Municipal Stadium on May 17.

Davids’ side played at their home ground in the group stages and the quarter-finals, but used the Amaan Stadium in Zanzibar for the first leg of their semi-final tie against Stellenbosch and are set to host the Orange Boys there as well on Saturday.

The Tanzanian giants won all four of their matches at the Benjamin Mkapa Stadium this season and Davids feels the venue will provide his team with a significant boost given its 60,000 capacity.

“We would love to play the return leg at Benjamin Mkapa, it is a 60,000 sitter, while Amaan Stadium is only 12,000 capacity,” the South African was quoted as saying by Pan African Football.

“Simba is dangerous when playing at Mkapa and of course it is a huge advantage if we play at Mkapa, but we have had teams before who don’t want to play us at Mkapa.

“We follow the rules, the rules are clear. I was in Orlando Pirates when we played Berkane in a neutral venue in Nigeria, and now we play in Berkane and they want to take us to a neutral venue?

“Let us be clear, give us our home, that is clear, even if we play the second leg here, we are ready for this. We are ready, Simba is a big club, we don’t back down.”