The affair has been the talk of the Chadian sporting microcosm ever since it came to light. Competing in the preliminary round of the AFCON 2025 qualifiers, Chad must face Mauritius during the international break in March. A double confrontation in the hope of qualifying for the group stages of the qualifiers. But just as coach Kévin Nicaise and his men began their preparations, they had to deal with an unusual event that led to the cancellation of their Wednesday training session.
Although they had set up their base camp at the Ledger Plaza hotel in N'Djamena, the Sao team were unable to make it to the Farcha training center. The reason? The bus that was supposed to take them there had run out of fuel, against a backdrop of shortages in the Chadian capital. "That's the reality of Chadian soccer. There's a long way between the venue and the training center inaugurated in 2010 by Sepp Blatter. You practically have to cross the whole city (...) Right now in N'Djamena there's a fuel problem affecting all sectors," a source confirmed to Sport News Africa, before lamenting:
The bus didn't have enough fuel to get to Farcha and back. That's the problem, and it persists.
Unable to travel and lacking any forethought on the part of the Chadian Football Federation, the delegation cancelled its planned training session until the body could resolve the problem. The FTFA, which has just had its teams suspended by FIFA, is under heavy criticism for its logistical and financial management. With a reduced budget, many savings have been made, to the detriment of the sporting project. "For this match against Mauritius, only local players have been called up due to the inability to provide plane tickets for expatriates", confides our source.
