Kenya and Zimbabwe excluded from AFCON 2023 qualifiers The Confederation of African Football (CAF) said on Monday that it had excluded Ken...
Kenya and Zimbabwe excluded from AFCON 2023 qualifiers
The Confederation of African Football (CAF) said on Monday that it had excluded Kenya and Zimbabwe from the 2023 African Cup of Nations (CAN) qualifiers scheduled in Ivory Coast."Following the continued suspension of Kenya and Zimbabwe from all activities by the FIFA Congress, CAF announces that the two associations will not participate in the second round of qualifying for the African Cup of Nations Côte d'Ivoire 2023 “, indicates the African body in a press release published on its official website.
FIFA had suspended the selections of the two countries because of political interference in the functioning of their national body responsible for football, recalls CAF.
Despite their suspension for political interference, CAF had included them in the draw on a provisional basis, provided the suspension was lifted two weeks before their first day of qualifying, CAF added.
“Kenya and Zimbabwe have not yet met the criteria required by FIFA as a prerequisite for the lifting of their suspension, the two teams will be considered losers and eliminated from the competition”, affirms the same source.
The CAN 2023 qualifiers will start on June 1.
Groups C and K to which Kenya and Zimbabwe belonged now consist of three teams. The order of matches is the same as was communicated to the teams after the April 19, 2022 draw.
In each of pools C and K, made up respectively of Cameroon, Burundi and Namibia, then South Africa, Liberia and Morocco, the two best teams will qualify for the final tournament in Côte d'Ivoire.
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