CAF excludes Kenya and Zimbabwe from the African Nations Cup qualifiers
Since The Confederation of African Football (CAF) announced the exclusion of Kenya and Zimbabwe
from the qualifiers for the 2023 African Nations Cup, after they continued to suspend by
the International Federation (FIFA) by the end of the deadline this week.
Since The Football Association of the two countries suspended for “political interference”, and they
included in the draw for the continental qualifiers if the suspension lifted.
“The Kenya Football Association and the Zimbabwe Football Association will consider losers and
the two teams will be disqualified from the competition,” CAF said.
“The third and eleventh groups will consist of only three teams, and the order of matches will maintain
according to the match schedule,” he added.
The two top teams in each group qualify for the Nations Cup finals to hold in Côte d’Ivoire in June and July.
The draw placed Kenya in Group C along with Cameroon, Namibia and Burundi, while Zimbabwe came
in Group Eleven with Morocco, South Africa and Liberia.
Morocco, who have qualified for the World Cup finals, were due to play back-to-back matches against
Zimbabwe in September but will now be able to play friendlies against stronger opponents to prepare
better before going to Qatar at the end of the year.
The government in Kenya and Zimbabwe decided to dissolve the Football Association in the two countries,
before FIFA imposed a ban on the two countries.
The Kenyan Ministry of Sports dissolved the local federation after accusations of fraud brought
against its president, Nick Mwendwa, while the executive committee of the Zimbabwe Football Association
dissolved amid allegations of misuse of funds.
CAF excludes Kenya and Zimbabwe from the African Nations Cup qualifiers
