Caf opens window for Zim

THE Confederations of African Football (Caf) has opened a window for Zimbabwe to contest for a place at the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) finals after the continental football governing body yesterday announced that the Warriors would be part of the qualifying draw set to be conducted next week in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Zimbabwe and Kenya’s Fifa membership status were suspended last month and the two countries are barred from participating in any football competition.

This followed what the Zurichbased body claimed to be “third party interference” in the internal affairs of the respective football associations.

But there is a glimmer of hope for the two nations after Caf included them on the list of the 48 countries that would enter the qualifying draw on Tuesday.

However, there was a strict condition set out for Zimbabwe and Kenya to participate in the qualifiers — reinstate the suspended football associations leaders.

This has to be done two weeks before the start of the first round of the qualifiers at the end of May.

“Reference to the suspension of Kenya and Zimbabwe by Fifa from all football activities, in case the suspension is not lifted two weeks before their first match day of the qualifiers; both associations will be considered as losers and eliminated from the competition,” a statement from Caf read.

The first two match days of the qualifiers are set to take place between May 30 and June 14.

Match days three and four will then be held between September 19 and 27.

The final two rounds will then take place between March 20 and 28, 2023.

“Consequently, their groups will be composed of three teams. The first and runner-up teams of those groups will quality to the final tournament. Consequently, the two teams (Kenya & Zimbabwe) cannot be drawn in the same group in order to avoid having one group with only two teams in case the suspension on both associations is not lifted.”

Earlier this week, Caf released the draw procedures for the qualifiers of the 34th edition of the Afcon finals to be held in Ivory Coast, with seeding of teams based on the latest Fifa ranking.

The 48 contenders for the final phase of the Afcon 2023 will be divided into 12 groups of four teams.

Group winners and runners-up qualify for the Afcon finals.

Ivory Coast will participate in the qualifiers, with the team guaranteed a spot in the finals regardless of its ranking in the group.

Their matches and results will count in determining the qualification of the other teams from their group.

If Ivory Coast fail to finish in the top two of their group, the worstranked team among the group runners-up will not qualify for the final tournament.

The Warriors are in Pot 3, while the Harambe Stars of Kenya are in Pot 2.

Zimbabwe’s Fifa membership was withdrawn after the Sports and Recreation Commission (SRC) suspended the Zifa board led by Felton Kamambo over a litany of charges, which included mismanagement of public funds.

Kamambo and his team have refuted the allegations. Fifa has also set out conditions to the SRC for Zimbabwe to be readmitted into their family.

The world football governing body wants the SRC to lift the suspension of the Kamambo board, together with that of the association’s head of secretariat Joseph Mamutse.

Fifa also wants the SRC to withdraw its charges before the courts against Kamambo’s board, as well as disbanding the Zifa Restructuring Committee.

SRC has been adamant thus far, and it’s not clear if it will pass this great opportunity that has been presented by Caf for the country to be readmitted back into the international football community.

Kenya also faced Fifa’s wrath following the disbandment of the Football Kenya Federation’s national executive committee.

The government dissolved the FA’s top hierarchy following what it termed fiscal mismanagement by the Nick Mwendwa-led administration.

Pots — Draw for the Afcon 2023 qualifiers

Pot 1: Senegal, Morocco, Nigeria, Egypt, Tunisia, Cameroon, Algeria, Mali, Côte d'Ivoire (host), Burkina Faso, Ghana and DR Congo.

Pot 2: Cape Verde, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea, Gabon, Benin, Zambia, Congo, Madagascar, Kenya, Sierra Leone and Uganda

Pot 3: Namibia, Mauritania, Guinea-Bissau, Niger, Libya, Mozambique, Malawi, Togo, Zimbabwe, Gambia, Angola and Comoros

Pot 4: Tanzania, Central African Republic, Sudan, Rwanda, Burundi, Ethiopia, Swaziland, Lesotho, Botswana, Liberia, South Sudan, Sao Tome & Principe.