Zimbabwe Suspended and Fined $ 50,000 for Failing to Host 2019 COSAFA Cup

Zimbabwe have been suspended from COSAFA and fined USD 50,000 for failure to honor an agreement to host this year’s tournament.

The COSAFA Disciplinary Committee, chaired by Antonio Caetano de Sousa, announced the decision to suspended Zimbabwe in a statement sent to media houses on Wednesday.

Zimbabwe pulled out of hosting the South African region’s football tournament in February with the country’s Youth, Sport, Arts and Recreation Minister Kirsty Coventry citing short notice as the major reason for declining the offer.

One of the conditions of lifting the suspension requires Zimbabwe Football Federation (ZIFA) to confirm within two months if the country can be hosts of the 2020 COSAFA Cup, and provide the already signed guarantees from the Zimbabwe government to this effect.

However, the failure to meet the set conditions will not affect the Zimbabwe national team as COSAFA has allowed the Warriors to defend their title in this year’s tournament in Durban, South Africa from May 25-June 8.

Meanwhile, the draw for the 2019 COSAFA Cup will be conducted on Thursday 2^nd May and will be live on Super Sport4 from 21h30 South African time.

The draw will include East African guest nation Uganda, who were invited after Madagascar declined the invitation.

COSAFA have also announced that the format for the competition will be the same as in previous years, with the eight lowest-ranked sides to be drawn into two pools each containing four sides.

The top two teams in those pools will advance to the quarter-finals, where they will on the six higher-ranked nations.   The six seeded sides are Botswana, Lesotho, Uganda, South Africa, Zambia and defending champions Zimbabwe.

The four quarterfinal winners advance to the Cup semi-finals, while the losing teams will drop into the Plate competition, which provides extra matches for those teams.

Zimbabwe are the defending COSAFA Cup champions after beating Zambia 4-2 in the last year’s final which was held in Polokwane, South Africa.