It is now official. The Vhembe-based Safa Second Division League side, Basel Football Club, now belongs to the Thidiela family.

The brand manager of Black Leopards Football Club, Mr Tshifhiwa Thidiela, confirmed this in a telephonic interview over the past weekend. This brings to an end weeks of speculation that the team had already been sold to a certain business consortium.

When asked as to why they had decided to purchase another second division franchise while they already had a feeder in the same division in Phungo All Stars, Thidiela said that the rationale behind the move was to accord more local players more opportunities to trade their skills in the professional ranks.

He revealed that they have more than 40 players in the Phungo All Stars camp. “We can’t register 100 players in a team while only 11 are allowed to play in a game,” he said. Thidiela indicated that registering a huge number of players would mean abusing the players as most of them would spend the whole season without featuring in an official game. He also said that their feeder sides would play at least three friendly matches against the senior team, Black Leopards, as a way of according the Leopards’ technical staff a chance to have a closer look at the amateur players.

When asked as to how they intended to change the fortunes of Basel, Thidiela said that they were not going to rush into making changes where there was no necessity. He stated that they would give all the current Basel players enough chance to prove themselves before offloading them. Asked whether the team would change its current home ground, Makwarela Stadium, Mr Thidiela said that a decision was still to be made.

Basel are still to win a league match this season. They conceded 11 goals in their three league matches. They lost 0-2 to Great North FC, 0-2 against The Dolphins and 0-7 against Joe’s Express.

The former general manager of Basel FC, Mr Baldwin Mahlale, confirmed the sale.