Kenya And Zimbabwe Kicked Out Of 2023 Africa Cup Of Nations

The Confederation of Africa Football (CAF) has announced that it has kicked Kenya and Zimbabwe out of the qualifiers for the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations tournament.

The two nations are currently under indefinite suspension imposed on the country by Fifa in February owing to their governments interference in the running of football.

Kenya and Zimbabwe needed to have restored their football administrators back to office two weeks to their first qualifying match o meet Fifa’s conditions for the suspension to be lifted.

However, the deadline passed without the two nations adhering to the instructions hence the cancellation hence disqualification from the qualifiers set to begin in June.

“As a consequence of having failed to have their suspensions by Fifa set aside, Caf has confirmed that both Kenya and Zimbabwe will not participate in the TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations Cote d’Ivoire 2023 qualifiers,” a statement on the Caf website read.

“The qualifiers will kick off on the first day of June 2022.

“Caf had included them in the official draw earlier in April 2022 on the condition that the suspension must be lifted two weeks before their first match day.

“Kenya and Zimbabwe, suspended for political interference, have not yet met the criteria required by the Fifa congress as a prerequisite for lifting their suspension.”

Kenya were set to play play in Cameroon on 4 June before then hosting Namibia four days later, while Zimbabwe were to face Morocco, South Africa and Liberia in Group K of the qualifiers.