Warriors To Play 2026 World Cup Qualifiers Outside Zimbabwe
The Warriors will play their 2026 World Cup home qualifiers outside the country as Zimbabwe doesn’t have a stadium approved by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) to host international matches.
According to a CAF circular, the National Sports Stadium (NSS) was excluded from the list of pre-approved stadiums for the qualifiers which begin this November.
This is despite recent assurances made by then Youth, Sport, Arts and Recreation minister Kirsty Coventry that renovations at the stadium will be fast-tracked to ensure that the Warriors play World Cup games at home.
Zimbabwe are in Group C of the 2026 FIFA World Cup African qualifiers together with Nigeria, South Africa, Benin, Rwanda and Lesotho.
The Warriors begin their campaign away in Rwanda on 13 November 2023. A week later, they host Nigeria in a home match which will be played outside Zimbabwe.
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The ZIFA normalisation committee, which is temporarily running the affairs of the national association, has until 8 September 2023 to secure a venue where they will host Nigeria.
Zimbabwe is among 24 countries of the 54 CAF membership, including fellow Group C members Benin and Lesotho, who have no approved stadiums to host international matches.
In 2019, CAF and FIFA suspended NSS from hosting international matches due to its poor condition.
Improvements that need to be done on the facility include the installation of bucket seats made of unbreakable and non-inflammable material, modern electronic turnstiles and automated systems, and the setting up of a functional Venue Operations Centre with a good overview of the stadium equipped with CCTV monitors for security purposes.
In the meantime, the Warriors can use the Obedi Itani Chilume Stadium in Francistown, Botswana, which meets the CAF requirements, as their home ground.
More: Pindula News
