The Premier Soccer League (PSL) will be giving financial assistance to clubs who cannot afford to undergo the mandatory Covid-19 testing prior to going into the bio-bubble, the chairman has confirmed.
Irvin Khoza on Monday addressed matters relating to the League's plan to resume the 2019/20 season under their earlier-approved protocol submitted to government.
Premiership and Championship clubs are required to test all players and staff members in two phases – the first before returning to group training and the second before entering the biologically safe environment, which has been confirmed as Gauteng.
Khoza confirmed that while the bill for these procedures are for each individual club, the PSL will assist in funding prior to the restart but will reclaim any amounts from future grants.
"There's no continuous testing. There are two testing [phases] – a first test and a second test 48 hours before you go into the bubble," said the 'Iron Duke'.
"That's why we are trying to debunk this myth that when you are playing football, you can manufacture Covid-19. People that are going into the bubble should have been tested for the last time to make sure that whoever goes in there is negative.
"That's why there's no continuous [testing] but there is continuous screening of players' temperatures and all that, which is normal. But testing happens only twice.
"As we speak now, the PSL has opened up an account to one of the national [laboratories] to make it easy for the clubs. For those clubs who don't have funds, the League has an account to pay for those clubs and will deduct [the amounts] later on from their grants."