Ilafy, Antananarivo: Kaizer Chiefs received with shock reports that about 47 Madagascar soccer spectators suffered injuries on Sunday at their CAF Champions League clash against the local side USJF Ravinala.

Speaking from a hotel in Madagascar club spokesperson Putco Mafani confirmed that a stampede ‘might’ have occured, “Judging from the way the stadium had been packed way before kick-off, plus further reports that came to us that the game was actually sold-out but people would not heed the call of the police to turn back home; we suspected that there would be serious problems but sadly we could not interfere with the way they are running their affairs here except to ensure our safety,” he said.

Mafani said reports from some quarters of the South African media suggesting that there were Kaizer Chiefs fans who were injured in the stampede as a result of being part of the crashing were nonsensical, “we are aware of one South African fan at the stadium apart from the travelling entourage, a certain Mr Nuno from the SA embassy, and to receive reports from our country that there were Kaizer Chiefs supporters involved in the stampede is quite disturbing. However, we send our sympathies to all the affected Madagascar families and football lovers who came there to see Chiefs play their champs” Mafani said.

In a pre-match meeting held on Sunday morning Chiefs Head of Security Thami Myaluza had registered his concerns about the amount of interest the game had generated on the island and a good security plan that would be needed to circumvent any eventuality. His concerns were based on the expereinces club officials and players had witnessed on Saturday in another game involving a local side, Uscafoot and El Merriek from Sudan, where missiles were thrown onto the pitch and spectators invaded the field soon after the final whistle.

“On behalf of the technical staff and all players we send our sympathies to all the injured ones who came to see us play”, said coach Ted Dumitru. Chiefs beat the islanders 1-0 through a goal by prolific striker Collins Mbesuma and will host USJF Ravinala in two weeks in South Africa. Mafani said logistics relating to the game will be made known soon but the team looks forward to coming back home for the ABSA Cup clsh against Wits.