Zimbabwe men’s football team, the Warriors and the Kenyan National teams will be in the draw for the Africa Cup Of Nations today despite a FIFA ban imposed on both the organisations’ football governing bodies due to government interferences.
The ZIFA Board was suspended by the Zimbabwe Sports and Recreation Commission in November for alleged misuse of public funds and reported sexual abuse of female match officials.
Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers are due to begin on May 30, and the Confederation of African Football (CAF) has set a deadline of two weeks prior to this date for the suspensions to be lifted in order for Kenya and Zimbabwe to take part.
CAF has set a deadline of mid-May for the bans to be lifted or the countries will be barred from taking part.
“We have included the two countries in the hope that the bans will be lifted no later than two weeks before the first matchday in June,” a Confederation of African Football (CAF) spokesman told AFP.
Zimbabwe has qualified for the last three editions of the Africa Cup of Nations, while Kenya last reached the tournament in 2019.
Next year’s Africa Cup of Nations is due to be held in Ivory Coast from June 23 to July 23.
Teams have been placed into pots based on their FIFA world rankings for the qualifying draw, with Kenya in pot two and Zimbabwe in pot three.
